System for measuring room reverb

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025314525-A1
Application number	US-202418627621-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 5, 2024
Priority date	Apr 5, 2024
Publication date	Oct 9, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed implementations for determining a reverb characteristic of an environment based on an impulsive sound generated within the environment. The impulsive sound is captured by an audio sensor. The impulsive sound is converted to a scale plotting a decay over time of a measure of sound waves of the impulsive sound. A diffused portion of the impulsive sound that includes the sound waves reflected from the environment is determined. The reverb characteristic of the environment is determined based on the magnitude of the diffused portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, from an audio sensor, an impulsive-sound signal comprising a range of frequencies capturing an impulsive sound, the impulsive sound comprising sound waves emitted from a source within an environment; determining, based on a threshold value, a diffused portion of the impulsive sound comprising the sound waves emitted from the source and reflected from the environment; and determining a reverb characteristic of the environment based on a magnitude of the diffused portion.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the diffused portion of the impulsive sound includes:
converting the range of frequencies to a scale plotting a decay over time of a measure of the sound waves, and determining the diffused portion according to the scale.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein converting the range of frequencies to the scale includes:
determining a plurality of Fourier spectra for a plurality of segments of the impulsive-sound signal, plotting the plurality of Fourier spectra as a function of time, and determining a log of a magnitude of the plotted Fourier spectra.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the diffused portion according to the scale:
determining a maximum value of the sound waves, determining an initial portion of the impulsive sound between the maximum value and a starting location of the diffused portion, and determining a background portion of the impulsive sound.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining the background portion of the impulsive sound based on a measure of background noise within the environment.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the threshold value comprises a set amount of the measure of the sound waves, and wherein the starting location of the diffused portion is calculated based on the maximum value of the measure of the sound waves and the threshold value.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the threshold value comprises a value for a rate of decay over time of the measure of the sound waves.

8 . The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the diffused portion of the scale includes:
determining an ending location of the diffused portion based on a starting location of the background portion.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the diffused portion of the scale includes:
determining the ending location of the diffused portion based on the starting location of the background portion and an offset value.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining the magnitude of the diffused portion based on the starting location of the diffused portion and the ending location of the diffused portion; determining, portion by applying a linear regression model to the diffused portion, an extrapolated diffused based on a measure of decay of a reverb parameter associated with the reverb characteristic and a distance between on the starting location of the diffused portion and the ending location of the diffused portion, wherein applying the linear regression model includes applying a linear fit to the diffused portion in log scale; and determining the reverb characteristic of the environment based on a magnitude of the diffused portion and the extrapolated diffused portion.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
rendering a plurality of spatial audio sounds based on the reverb characteristic.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a robust reverb characteristic of the environment based on the magnitude of the diffused portion and a plurality of impulsive-sound signals received from a plurality of other audio sensors.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a prompt, via a display, comprising instructions for generating the impulsive sound.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reverb characteristic of the environment comprises a measure of how sound travels and decays within the environment.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio sensor comprises a microphone, a piezoelectric sensor, or a capacitive sensor.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reverb characteristic comprises at least one reverb parameter.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one reverb parameter includes a reverberation time-60 value or a reverberation time-20 value.

18 . A computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by an electronic processor cause the electronic processor to execute operations, the operations comprising:
receiving, from an audio sensor, an impulsive-sound signal comprising a range of frequencies capturing an impulsive sound, the impulsive sound comprising sound waves emitted from a source within an environment; determining, based on a threshold value, a diffused portion of the impulsive sound comprising the sound waves emitted from the source and reflected from the environment; and determining a reverb characteristic of the environment based on a magnitude of the diffused portion.

19 . The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein determining the diffused portion of the impulsive sound includes:
converting the range of frequencies to a scale plotting a decay over time of a measure of the sound waves, and determining the diffused portion according to the scale.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein determining the diffused portion according to the scale includes:
determining a maximum value of the sound waves, determining an initial portion of the impulsive sound between the maximum value and a starting location of the diffused portion, and determining a background portion of the impulsive sound.

21 . The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the threshold value comprises a set amount of the measure of the sound waves, and wherein the starting location of the diffused portion is calculated based on the maximum value of the measure of the sound waves and the threshold value.

22 . A system comprising:
an audio sensor; and an electronic processor configured to:
receive, from the audio sensor, an impulsive-sound signal comprising a range of frequencies capturing an impulsive sound, the impulsive sound comprising sound waves emitted from a source within an environment;
determine, based on a threshold value, a diffused portion of the impulsive sound comprising the sound waves emitted from the source and reflected from the environment; and
determine a reverb characteristic of the environment based on a magnitude of the diffused portion.

23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein the electronic processor configured to determine the diffused portion of the impulsive sound by:
converting the range of frequencies to a scale plotting a decay over time of a measure of the sound waves, and determining the diffused portion according to the scale.

24 . The system of claim 23 , wherein electronic processor configured to determine the diffused portion according to the scale by:
determining a maximum value of the sound waves, determining an initial portion of the impulsive sound between the maximum value and a starting location of the diffused portion, and determining a background portion of the impulsive sound.

25 . The system of claim 24 , wherein the threshold value comprises a set amount of the measure of the sound waves, and wherein the starting location of the diffused portion is calcu

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Nongpiur Rajeev
• Xu Tianyu

Classifications

• G01H7/00 Primary

  Measuring reverberation time {; room acoustic measurements} · CPC title