MICROPHONE ARRAY
FOR IMPROVED
ACTIVE NOISE CONTROL

Daniel Abes 
Olivia Heuiyoung Park

ADVISED BY PROFESSORS MARTIN LAWLESS AND MARK LUCHTENBURG

Active noise control (ANC) systems attenuate noise by detecting incoming sound and generating an anti-noise signal to destructively interfere with it. ANC systems are generally limited to low-frequency sounds because sensors and actuators are close together and lack sufficient time to react to high-frequency or impulsive sounds. To compensate, common applications such as noise-cancelling headphones rely on ear coverings to block out higher-frequency sound indiscriminately, which can hinder communication and situational awareness. Our system implements an external array of microphones located around the user to increase the distance between the sensors and the user. The system will determine the locations of each microphone, user, and noise source using time delay of arrival (TDOA) of sound. After relative locations of the microphones are found, the user’s open-back headset and the noise source locations are monitored real-time and are forwarded to the ANC system for path estimation.

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