A Novel Covariance Matrix Estimation Method for MVDR Beamforming In Audio-Visual Communication Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel covariance matrix estimation scheme for minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamforming. By accurately tracking direction-of-sound source arrival (DoA) information using audio-visual sensors, the covariance matrix is efficiently estimated by adopting a variable forgetting factor. The variable forgetting factor is determined by considering signal-to-interference ratio (SIR). Experimental results verify that the performance of the proposed method is superior to that of the conventional one in terms of interference/noise reduction and speech distortion.