Binaural sound localizer for azimuthal movement detection based on diffraction

Sound localization can be realized by utilizing the physics of acoustics in various methods. This paper investigates a novel detection architecture for the azimuthal movement of sound source based on the interaural level difference (ILD) between two receivers. One of the microphones in the system is surrounded by barriers of various heights in order to cast the direction dependent diffraction of the incoming signal. The gradient analysis of the ILD between the structured and unstructured microphone demonstrates the rotation directions as clockwise, counter clockwise, and no rotation of the sound source. Acoustic experiments with different types of sound source over a wide range of target movements show that the average true positive and false positive rates are 67% and 16%, respectively. Spectral analysis demonstrates that the low frequency delivers decreased true and false positive rates and the high frequency presents increases of both rates, overall.