Robust TDOA-Based Sound Source Localization

This paper proposes a new technique for solving sound source localization problems using time-difference of arrival (TDOA). The key aspect of the proposal relies on both the use of a median-based cost function, which allows for outlier filtering of misestimated TDOAs, and a TDOA discarding process. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method achieves centimeter-level localization accuracy even when dealing with high reverberation and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Indeed, for an SNR of 10 dB and a 5.2 m × 7.5 m × 2.6 m room with reverberation time of 800 ms, our method achieves median errors under 10 cm and mean errors about 20 cm, outperforming closed-form least-squares solutions and classic maximum likelihood-based TDOA techniques.