Robust time delay estimation in noisy reverberant environments with a probabilistic graphical model

The paper presents a fast new algorithm for estimating the relative time delay between a microphone pair in noisy reverberant conditions. The algorithm is derived from a novel approach to this problem, which we formulate in the framework of probabilistic graphical models. We construct a probabilistic model of the microphone signals, using models of speech and noise as building blocks. The reverberation filter coefficients and the relative time delay appear as model parameters, and are estimated by our algorithm from data. The resulting delay estimate is Bayes optimal and takes into account noise and reverberation in a principled manner. We demonstrate very good performance on data from real and simulated room environments.