Evaluation of the accuracy of measurements performed by a spherical array of microphones

Abstract

This Master’s thesis consists in evaluating a spherical microphone array developed in a previous project, which will be referred to later, that aimed to extract 3D Room Impulse Responses with a measurement system composed of the referred microphone, among other tools. We will focus on the accuracy of localization of the sound as a direct continuation of the previous work. It could be considered as the main application of this system, hence it is important to emphasize the need of this evaluation. The measurement system consists of a spherical antenna containing 16 microphones, two cards with 8 channels each and the associated signal treatment. The current aim is to evaluate the precision provided by the system, which is evaluated in several situations. Different acoustics measurements have been taken in an anechoic room and also in a reverberant room. Adobe Audition and the Matlab software are used in order to process the information which is provided by the measurement system.