A Human Head Shaped Array of Microphones and Cameras for Automotive Applications

Nowadays, a growing interest in the recording and reproduction of spatial audio was observed. However, despite many microphone arrays were developed in the last years, there are still few solutions for Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) applications at low frequency. In this paper, a new array of microphones and cameras is presented, for recording both acoustic and visual spatial information. It can be used for the spatial analysis and visualization of the sound field and to perform recordings that can be rendered in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The system was optimized for the low frequency range, as most of the available solutions have proved unsatisfactory for frequencies below 400 Hz. Moreover, the system is cost-effective if compared to other existing products designed for similar applications. The spatial performance of the array is evaluated in comparison with the current state of the art systems. Finally, a field application is presented. The new head shaped microphone array demonstrated its effectiveness for evaluating the performance of an automotive Active Noise Control (ANC) system.