NTT Research and Development 2011 Review of Activities

Overview

The zoom microphone can pick up distant sounds in analogy to a camera lens that can zoom in on distant targets. By locating a three-dimensional reflector near multiple microphones to collect spatially scattered sound energy, it is possible to pick up sounds from a specific distant target. This microphone will enable telecommunication services in which users can zoom in to video and pick up sounds at user-selected positions. It would also be useful for productions of highly realistic 3D video presentations and other high-resolution services that will become popular in the future.

Features

• The microphone can pick up distant sounds many meters away.
• Users can select any listening direction even though the equipment remains fixed.
• Multiple users can listen to sounds from different directions at the same time.
• It can “re-pick up” target sounds when multiple observed sounds have been recorded.

Application scenarios

• Content delivery: Live broadcasts of sports such as soccer, American football and figure skating
• Free-viewpoint TV: TV Programs in which users select the viewing position and angle
• Hall acoustics: Enabling Q&A sessions without hand-held microphones
• Telepresence systems: Clearly capturing the speech of a specific speaker in a large conference room