2025/05/15 by Tong Xiao, Simon Doclo, Xiao, Tong +1 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · Neuroscience · #Advanced Adaptive Filtering Techniques #Audio and Speech Processing (eess.AS) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Electrical engineering #Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation #Signal Processing (eess.SP) #Sound (cs.SD) #Speech and Audio Processing #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.10372
openalex publication_date 2025/05/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Recent advances in active noise control have enabled the development of hearables with spatial selectivity, which actively suppress undesired noise while preserving desired sound from specific directions. In this work, we propose an improved approach to spatially selective active noise control that incorporates acausal relative impulse responses into the optimization process, resulting in significantly improved performance over the causal design. We evaluate the system through simulations using a pair of open-fitting hearables with spatially localized speech and noise sources in an anechoic environment. Performance is evaluated in terms of speech distortion, noise reduction, and signal-to-noise ratio improvement across different delays and degrees of acausality. Results show that the proposed acausal optimization consistently outperforms the causal approach across all metrics and scenarios, as acausal filters more effectively characterize the response of the desired source.