Sound source localization using distributed microphone in spherical harmonics domain

A sound source localization method in spherical harmonics domain for arbitrary directivity of distributed sensors is proposed, which can provide high resolution in a wide frequency range. Based on the spherical harmonic representation of a sound field and its translation, we estimate the spherical harmonic coefficients by using multiple sensors distributed in a certain region. Sound source localization can be realized by processing these coefficients. Theoretical analysis shows the ideal spatial selection characteristics of the method. Simulations are performed under a specific sensor distribution, which show that the method has high resolution at low frequency and is robust to the error of the position of array elements.