MICROPHONE ARRAY SIGNAL PROCESSING (HB 2008)

In the past few years we have written and edited several books in the area of acousticandspeechsignalprocessing. Thereasonbehindthisendeavoristhat there were almost no books available in the literature when we ?rst started while there was (and still is) a real need to publish manuscripts summarizing the most useful ideas, concepts, results, and state-of-the-art algorithms in this important area of research. According to all the feedback we have received so far, we can say that we were right in doing this. Recently, several other researchers have followed us in this journey and have published interesting books with their own visions and perspectives. The idea of writing a book on Microphone Array Signal Processing comes from discussions we have had with many colleagues and friends. As a c- sequence of these discussions, we came up with the conclusion that, again, there is an urgent need for a monograph that carefully explains the theory and implementation of microphone arrays. While there are many manuscripts on antenna arrays from a narrowband perspective (narrowband signals and narrowband processing), the literature is quite scarce when it comes to s- sor arrays explained from a truly broadband perspective. Many algorithms for speech applications were simply borrowed from narrowband antenna - rays. However, a direct application of narrowband ideas to broadband speech processing may not be necessarily appropriate and can lead to many m- understandings.

Microphone arrays have attracted a lot of interest in the last two decades. The reason behind this is that they have the potential to solve many important problems in both human-machine and human-human interfaces for different kinds of communications. But before microphone arrays can be deployed broadly, there is a strong need for a deep understanding of the problems encountered in the real world and their clear formulation in order that useful algorithms can be developed to process the sensor signals.

While there are many manuscripts on antenna arrays from a narrowband perspective (narrowband signals and narrowband processing), the literature is quite scarce when it comes to sensor arrays explained from a truly broadband perspective. Many algorithms for speech applications were simply borrowed from narrowband antenna arrays. However, a direct application of narrowband ideas to broadband speech processing may not be necessarily appropriate and can lead to many misunderstandings. Therefore, the main objective of this book is to derive and explain the most fundamental algorithms from a strictly broadband (signals and/or processing) viewpoint. Thanks to the approach taken here, new concepts come in light that have the great potential of solving several, very difficult problems encountered in acoustic and speech applications.

Microphone Array Signal Processing is a timely and important professional reference for researchers and practicing engineers from universities and a wide range of industries. It is also an excellent text for graduate students who are interested in this promising and exciting field