Robust localisation of multiple speakers exploiting head movements and multi-conditional training of binaural cues

This paper addresses the problem of localising multiple competing speakers in the presence of room reverberation, where sound sources can be positioned at any azimuth on the horizontal plane. To reduce the amount of front-back confusions which can occur due to the similarity of interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs) in the front and rear hemifield, a machine hearing system is presented which combines supervised learning of binaural cues using multi-conditional training (MCT) with a head movement strategy. A systematic evaluation showed that this approach substantially reduced the amount of front-back confusions in challenging acoustic scenarios. Moreover, the system was able to generalise to a variety of different acoustic conditions not seen during training.