JP7271862B2 - audio processor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an audio processing device.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has been practiced to provide meeting booths for meetings, business negotiations, etc. by dividing an indoor space such as an office. By providing a meeting booth in one corner of the indoor space in this way, the indoor space can be used efficiently and the liveliness of the entire indoor space can be enhanced.

The meeting booth may be located near an indoor office space or the like from the viewpoint of efficient use of the indoor space and revitalization of the indoor space. In addition, from the above-mentioned viewpoint, it is desirable that there be a sufficient number of meeting booths.

However, when the size of the meeting booth is reduced, there is a high possibility that the conversation in the meeting booth will leak out of the meeting booth. From this point of view, today there is a technology that divides the meeting booth with partitions, installs speakers in the partitions, and emits a masking sound to make the conversation in the meeting booth inaudible to the outside. It has been put into practical use (see JP-A-2012-82585).

JP 2012-82585 A

However, when using the masking sound as described in the above publication, there arises a problem that the surrounding environment noise becomes louder. In other words, when a plurality of meeting booths are provided adjacently, the masking sound used to make it difficult to hear the conversations in other adjacent meeting booths makes it difficult to hear the conversations in the meeting booths. You may need to have a voice conversation.

In view of such inconveniences, it is an object of the present invention to provide a speech processing apparatus capable of facilitating conversation and suppressing leakage of conversation contents to the outside.

The present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, includes one or more microphones for collecting the voices of a plurality of speakers in booths divided in an indoor space, and an audio processing unit having amplitude adjusting means for adjusting at least the amplitude of an audio signal; and one or more directional speakers emitting the audio adjusted by the audio processing unit toward the plurality of speakers, The audio processing device, wherein the one or more microphones are arranged outside the directional range of the one or more directional speakers.

The sound processing device includes a plurality of the microphones, a sound source position calculation unit for calculating a sound source position of the sound signal collected by the plurality of microphones, and a sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit. It is preferable to further include a sound emitting direction control section for controlling the sound emitting direction of the one or more directional speakers.

It is preferable that the audio processing unit includes specific band enhancement means for amplifying a specific sound range of the audio signal collected by the one or more microphones.

In the audio processing device, the amplitude adjusting means preferably adjusts the amplitude of the audio signal collected by the one or more microphones for each speaker whose sound is to be emitted by the one or more directional speakers.

The audio processing device may comprise one or more partitions separating the booths.

In the present invention, the “directivity range of the directional speaker” refers to a range in which the sound pressure of the sound emitted from the directional speaker is 80% or more of the spatial peak value, preferably 50% Above, more preferably 20% or more. In addition, "to emit sound toward the speaker" means, in addition to emitting sound directly to the speaker, sound reflected from partitions, walls, etc. that divide the indoor space, and other members provided in the indoor space. This concept also includes the case where the reflected sound is emitted toward the speaker.

A voice processing apparatus according to the present invention collects the voice of a speaker who is having a conversation in a booth with one or more microphones, adjusts the amplitude appropriately by the voice processing unit, and then emits it from one or more directional speakers. can sound. Since the one or more microphones are arranged outside the directional range of the one or more directional speakers, the audio processing apparatus can reproduce the voice of the speaker even when the speaker speaks in a relatively soft voice. can be suitably picked up by the one or more microphones. Therefore, according to the speech processing device, the speaker does not need to speak loudly, so the speaker's voice tends to be naturally soft. Further, in the sound processing device, since the one or more directional speakers emit the sound adjusted by the sound processing unit toward the plurality of speakers, the sound processing unit reduces the amplitude to a relatively low level. Even when it is done, it is possible to sufficiently convey the content of the conversation to the speaker. Therefore, the speech processing device can suppress the voice of the speaker and facilitate conversation even if the acoustic output radiated from the one or more directional speakers is relatively low. Leakage of conversation content to the outside can be suppressed.

1 is a schematic plan view showing an indoor space provided with a sound processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing an audio processing device provided in the indoor space of FIG. 1; 3 is a diagram showing details of an audio processing unit of the audio processing device of FIG. 2; FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing an audio processing device according to an embodiment different from the audio processing device of FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a sound collecting unit of the audio processing device of FIG. 4; Figure 5 shows details of a control unit of the audio processing device of Figure 4; FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing an audio processing device according to an embodiment different from the audio processing devices of FIGS. 2 and 4; FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing an audio processing device according to an embodiment different from the audio processing devices of FIGS. 2, 4 and 7;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate.

[First embodiment]
<Sound processing device>
A speech processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the audio processing device is installed in a booth X partitioned in an indoor space. The audio processing device includes one or more partitions 10 that partition the booth X. As shown in FIG. The sound processing device is provided in an indoor space including a main space Y and a plurality of booths X partitioned from the main space Y by partitions 10 . Examples of the indoor space include, but are not limited to, an office space. Also, when this indoor space is an office space, the main space Y is typically an office space, and the booth X is a meeting booth for meetings, business negotiations, and the like. In this embodiment, three booths X are provided on one end side of the indoor space.

The booth X has an outer edge in the left-right direction defined by one or more partitions 10 and a side wall W1 that forms an interior space. Also, the booth X has a bottom edge defined by a bottom wall W2 forming an indoor space, and a top edge defined by a ceiling wall W3 forming an indoor space. Thus, the booth X is hermetically sealed except for an open area O for entering and exiting provided as necessary, and a gap between one or a plurality of partitions 10 and the ceiling wall W3. The specific structure of the partition 10 is not particularly limited, and it may be of a movable type, or may be of a fixed type that is fixed to a wall or the like that forms an indoor space. In general, a partition having a gap between itself and the ceiling wall W3 tends to leak the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 in the booth X into the main space Y through this gap. On the other hand, in the speech processing apparatus, the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 in the booth X are reflected in the main space Y even when the partition 10 of the type in which a gap is formed between the ceiling wall W3 and the ceiling wall W3 is used. can be sufficiently suppressed from leaking into the

As shown in FIG. 2, each booth X includes a table A and a plurality of chairs B in this embodiment. The table A has, for example, a substantially rectangular top plate in plan view. Chairs B are arranged in the vicinity of a pair of opposing side edges of the top plate. In this embodiment, for example, one party (speaker P1) of a business negotiation is seated in a chair B placed near one side edge of the top plate, facing one side edge of the top plate. The other party (speaker P2) of the negotiation is seated in chair B located near the other side edge.

As shown in FIG. 2, one booth X is provided with the audio processing device. Therefore, according to the speech processing device, the speakers P1 and P2 can have a conversation while confirming how much their own voices are heard by the other party based on the other party's attitude and remarks.

The sound processing device includes a microphone 1 (hereinafter also referred to as "sound collecting microphone 1") for collecting the voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 in the booth X divided in the indoor space, and a sound collecting microphone 1 an audio processing unit 2 having an amplitude adjusting means for adjusting at least the amplitude of the audio signal collected by the audio processing unit 2; 3a and 3b. The directional speakers 3a and 3b are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the speakers P1 and P2, respectively. The sound processing device can emit the voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 collected by the sound collecting microphone 1 toward the speakers P1 and P2 using a plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b. Therefore, even when the speakers P1 and P2 speak in relatively low voices, it is easy for the other speakers P1 and P2 to hear the voices of the speakers P1 and P2.

(sound collecting microphone)
The audio processing device has one sound collecting microphone 1 . A sound collecting microphone 1 collects voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 and generates a sound signal. The sound collecting microphone 1 is arranged on the top plate of the table A, for example. The sound collecting microphone 1 is arranged outside the directional range of the plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b. The sound collecting microphone 1 is preferably arranged at an intermediate position between the speakers P1 and P2. As the sound collecting microphone 1, a directional microphone such as a unidirectional microphone, a two-directional microphone, or an omnidirectional microphone can be used. A bi-directional microphone is preferred. The audio signal generated by the sound collecting microphone 1 is input to an analog-to-digital conversion section (A/D conversion section) via a sound collection amplifier (both of the sound collection amplifier and A/D conversion section are not shown). ). This A/D converter converts an analog audio signal generated by the sound collecting microphone 1 into a digital audio signal. A digital audio signal converted by this A/D converter is output to the audio processor 2 .

(sound processing unit)
The audio processing unit 2, as shown in FIG. 3, has amplitude adjustment means 2a and specific band emphasis means 2b. The audio processing unit 2 has a bandpass filter (not shown) whose passband is, for example, the main component band of human voice. It is configured to be output to means 2b.

<Amplitude adjusting means>
The amplitude adjusting means 2 a adjusts the amplitude of the audio signal collected by the sound collecting microphone 1 and output to the audio processing section 2 . The amplitude adjusting means 2a includes a sound pressure adjusting circuit. The amplitude adjusting means 2a includes, for example, sound pressure estimating means (not shown) for estimating the sound pressure of the speaker's voice at the listener's position from the sound signal output from the sound collecting microphone 1 and the assumed listener's position; and amplitude adjusting means (not shown) for adjusting the amplitude of the audio signal based on the sound pressure calculated by the pressure estimating means. The amplitude adjusting means adjusts the amplitude of the output audio signal to be low, for example, when the sound pressure calculated by the sound pressure estimating means is equal to or higher than a predetermined sound pressure. Further, the amplitude adjustment means adjusts the amplitude of the output audio signal to be higher when the sound pressure calculated by the sound pressure calculation means is equal to or less than a predetermined sound pressure.

<Specific band emphasizing means>
The specific band emphasizing means 2b amplifies a specific sound range of the audio signal collected by the sound collecting microphone 1. FIG. The specific band emphasizing means 2b includes, for example, a known equalizer. The specific band enhancement means 2b preferably amplifies the middle range or the high range of the audio signal collected by the sound collecting microphone 1, and more preferably amplifies the high range. As described above, the sound processing device is provided in the booth X partitioned in the indoor space, and the voices uttered by the speakers P1 and P2 are transmitted through the ceiling wall W3, the side wall W1, one or a plurality of partitions 10, and the like. easy to reflect. In this case, high-pitched sounds of the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 are likely to be absorbed by the ceiling wall W3, the side wall W1, the one or the plurality of partitions 10, and the like. Therefore, the sound absorbed by the ceiling wall W3 or the like can be complemented by amplifying the high frequency side of the voice signal collected by the sound collecting microphone 1 by the specific band enhancement means 2b, and the sound absorbed by the other speaker P1 can be compensated. , P2 can listen to sounds close to the real voices of one of the speakers P1 and P2. In general, when the speakers P1 and P2 converse in low voices, the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 tend to be high-pitched. Therefore, by amplifying the high frequency range with the specific band emphasis means 2b, it is easy to emit sounds that are less incongruous to the other speakers P1 and P2.

The audio processing section 2 may have audio processing means other than the amplitude adjusting means 2a and the specific band emphasizing means 2b. For example, the audio processing unit 2 may have delay means (not shown) that delays the audio signal collected by the sound collecting microphone 1 and output to the audio processing unit 2 . In this manner, since the sound processing unit 2 has the delay means, it is possible for the sound processing unit 2 to output a sound signal simulating the reflected sound of the sound absorbed by the ceiling wall W3 or the like.

The audio processing unit 2 may also include howling suppressing means or the like that determines a peak component as a howling sound when a steep peak in the output signal continues for a certain period of time or more, and removes this frequency component.

An audio signal output from the audio processing unit 2 is input to a digital-to-analog conversion unit (D/A conversion unit) (not shown). This D/A converter converts the digital audio signal output from the audio processor 2 into an analog audio signal. Also, the analog audio signal converted by this D/A converter is output to the directional speakers 3a and 3b via a sound output amplifier (not shown).

(directional speaker)
The audio processing device has two directional speakers 3a, 3b. The directional speakers 3a and 3b are arranged on the ceiling wall W3 in the booth X or near the ceiling wall W3. The directional speakers 3a and 3b are arranged above the speakers P1 and P2 to emit sound, and are configured to emit the audio signal output from the audio processing unit 2 downward. Therefore, the directional speakers 3a and 3b are arranged so that the sound emitting surface faces the top plate of the table A, for example. As the directional speakers 3a and 3b, for example, planar speakers, array speakers, parametric speakers, etc. can be used. As the directional speakers 3a and 3b, it is also possible to use those having a diaphragm supported by an actuator. By using the directional speakers 3a and 3b, the sound processing apparatus can selectively increase the sound pressure in the vicinity of the speakers P1 and P2, thereby easily suppressing the leakage of sound to the outside.

<Advantages>
The sound processing device collects the voices of speakers P1 and P2 who are having a conversation in a booth X with a sound collection microphone 1, adjusts the amplitude appropriately with a sound processing unit 2, and outputs the sounds to a plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b. can emit sound from Since the sound-collecting microphone 1 is arranged outside the directivity range of the plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b, the sound processing device can be used even when the speakers P1 and P2 speak in relatively low voices. , P2 can be properly collected by the sound collecting microphone 1. In FIG. Therefore, according to the speech processing apparatus, the speakers P1 and P2 do not need to speak loudly, so the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 tend to be naturally soft. In addition, the sound processing apparatus emits sounds adjusted by the sound processing unit 2 from the plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b toward the plurality of speakers 3a and 3b. Even when the target is lowered, the contents of the conversation can be sufficiently transmitted to the speakers P1 and P2. Therefore, the speech processing apparatus can suppress the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 and facilitate smooth conversation even if the sound output emitted from the plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b is relatively low. This makes it possible to suppress the leakage of conversation contents to the outside.

Since the sound processing device includes one or a plurality of partitions 10 for partitioning the booth X, the booth X can be easily kept substantially airtight. As a result, the sound processing device suppresses the sound emitted outside the booth X from being collected by the sound collecting microphone 1, and also suppresses the sound from the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 and the plurality of directional speakers 3a and 3b. It is possible to accurately suppress the emitted sound from leaking to the outside. Therefore, according to the speech processing device, it is possible to facilitate smooth conversation and to sufficiently suppress leakage of the contents of the conversation to the outside.

[Second embodiment]
<Sound processing device>
A speech processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. The audio processing device of FIG. 4 is provided in booths X divided in the indoor space. The sound processing device is provided in an indoor space including a main space Y and a plurality of booths X partitioned from the main space Y by one or a plurality of partitions 10, like the sound processing device in FIG. The sound processing device is provided corresponding to one booth X. As shown in FIG.

The speech processing device includes a plurality of microphones 11a (sound collection microphones 11a) for collecting the voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 in booths X divided in the indoor space, and a plurality of sound collection microphones 11a. An audio processing unit 2 having an amplitude adjusting means for adjusting at least the amplitude of a sounded audio signal, and a directional speaker 13 emitting the audio adjusted by the audio processing unit 2 toward the speakers P1 and P2. . The sound processing device includes a sound source position calculator 15 that calculates the sound source positions of the sound signals collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a, and a directional speaker 13 at the sound source positions calculated by the sound source position calculator 15. and a sound emission direction control unit 16 for controlling the sound direction. More specifically, the audio processing device includes a sound collecting unit 11 having a plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a. The sound processing apparatus also includes a control unit 12 having a sound processing section 14 , a sound source position calculation section 15 and a sound emission direction control section 16 .

(sound collection unit)
The sound collecting unit 11 has a plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a, preferably three or more sound collecting microphones 11a (FIG. 4 illustrates a case of having three sound collecting microphones 11a). The sound collection unit 11 is arranged on the top plate of the table A, for example. The sound collection unit 11 is preferably arranged at an intermediate position between the speakers P1 and P2.

A plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a collect voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 and generate audio signals. The multiple sound collecting microphones 11 a are arranged outside the directional range of the directional speaker 13 . The plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a are arranged so that the distances between them and the speakers P1 and P2 are different. That is, the distance between one speaker P1 (more specifically, the mouth of one speaker P1) and each sound collecting microphone 11a is different, and the distance between the other speaker P2 (more specifically, the other speaker's mouth) is different. The distance between the mouth of the speaker P2 and each sound collecting microphone 11a is different. As the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a, directional microphones such as unidirectional microphones and bidirectional microphones, omnidirectional microphones, etc., can be used as in the sound processing apparatus of FIG. The audio signal generated by the sound collecting microphone 11a is input to an analog-to-digital conversion section (A/D conversion section) via a sound collection amplifier (both of the sound collection amplifier and A/D conversion section are not shown). ). This A/D converter converts an analog audio signal generated by the sound collecting microphone 1 into a digital audio signal. A digital audio signal converted by this A/D converter is output to the control unit 12 .

(directional speaker)
The audio processing device has one directional speaker 13 . The directional speaker 13 is arranged on the ceiling wall W3 in the booth X or near the ceiling wall W3. The directional speakers 13 are arranged at positions substantially equal in distance from the speakers P1 and P2. The directional speaker 13 is an array speaker having a plurality of speaker elements. The directional speaker 13 is configured such that the sound emitting direction of each speaker element can be changed.

(Voice processing unit 14)
The audio processing unit 14 has amplitude adjusting means and specific band emphasizing means. The amplitude adjusting means adjusts the amplitude of the audio signal collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a and output to the audio processing section 14, as in the audio processing apparatus of FIG. The amplitude adjusting means includes an amplitude adjusting circuit as in the audio processing apparatus of FIG.

The amplitude adjusting means may adjust the amplitude of the sound signals collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a for each of the speakers P1 and P2 to be sounded by the directional speaker 13. FIG. That is, the amplitude adjusting means may output the amplitudes of the audio signals collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a to the first speaker element group and the second speaker element group with different amplitudes. For example, the amplitude adjustment means adjusts the voice emitted from one sound source (one speaker P1) calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 15 (described later) to be emitted to one speaker P1 (discussed later). The sound direction control unit 16 adjusts the sound pressure of the sound emitted from the speaker element group directed to one speaker P1 to a predetermined sound pressure or less, and the other sound pressure calculated by the sound source position calculation unit 15 is adjusted. The sound pressure of the sound emitted to the sound source (the other speaker P2) (the sound emitted from the speaker element group directed to the other speaker P2 by the sound emission direction control unit 16) is set to a predetermined sound pressure or more. adjust to At the same time, the amplitude adjusting means adjusts the sound pressure of the voice uttered by the other speaker P2 to a predetermined sound pressure or less, and The sound pressure of the sound emitted to P1 is adjusted to a predetermined sound pressure or more. According to this configuration, the voices of the other speakers P1 and P2 can be selectively made easier to hear with respect to the speakers P1 and P2. At the same time, by suppressing the sound pressure of the entire conversation to a lower level, it is possible to more reliably suppress the leakage of the content of the conversation to the outside.

The specific band emphasizing means amplifies a specific sound range of the voice collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a, like the sound processing device of FIG. The specific band emphasizing means includes, for example, a known equalizer, like the audio processing device of FIG.

The audio processing unit 14 may have audio processing means other than the amplitude adjusting means and the specific band emphasizing means. The audio processing unit 14, like the audio processing device in FIG. It is also possible to provide howling suppressing means for determining a peak component as a howling sound when a sharp peak in the output signal continues for a certain period of time or longer, and removing this frequency component.

(Sound source position calculator)
The sound source position calculation unit 15 can be configured by a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and memories such as ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory). The sound source position calculation unit 15 calculates the sound source positions (specifically, the positions of the mouths of the speakers P1 and P2) based on, for example, the time difference between the voices emitted from the speakers P1 and P2 arriving at the sound collecting microphones 11a. . Further, the sound source position calculator 15 may calculate the sound source position based on the volume and phase difference of the voices uttered by the speakers P1 and P2.

(Sound emission direction control part)
The sound emission direction control unit 16 can be configured by a computer including a CPU and memories such as ROM and RAM. The sound emitting direction control unit 16 controls the sound emitting direction of each speaker element of the directional speaker 13 . The sound emitting direction control unit 16 controls that the sound emitting directions of all the speaker elements of the directional speaker 13 correspond to the speakers P1 and P2 (specifically, the mouths of the speakers P1 and P2 calculated by the sound source position calculating unit 15). position).

<Advantages>
The sound processing device includes a sound source position calculator 15 that calculates the sound source positions of the sound signals collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones 11a, and a directional speaker 13 at the sound source positions calculated by the sound source position calculator 15. Since a sound emission direction control unit 16 for controlling the direction of sound is provided, even when one of the speakers P1, P2 utters in a relatively low voice, the other speaker P1, P2 can selectively and reliably convey the content of the conversation. can be transmitted. Therefore, the speech processing apparatus can facilitate smooth conversation and reliably prevent leakage of the contents of the conversation to the outside.

[Third Embodiment]
<Sound processing device>
A speech processing device according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The audio processing device of FIG. 7 is provided in booths X divided in the indoor space. The sound processing device is provided in an indoor space including a main space Y and a plurality of booths X partitioned from the main space Y by one or a plurality of partitions 10, like the sound processing device in FIG. The sound processing device is provided corresponding to one booth X. As shown in FIG.

The speech processing device includes a plurality of microphones (sound collection microphones) for collecting the voices of a plurality of speakers P1 and P2 in the booth X divided in the indoor space, and the sound collected by the plurality of sound collection microphones. An audio processing unit having amplitude adjusting means for adjusting at least the amplitude of an audio signal, and a directional speaker 13 for emitting sounds adjusted by the audio processing unit toward the speakers P1 and P2 are provided. Further, the sound processing device includes a sound source position calculation unit for calculating the sound source position of the sound signal collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones, and the directional speaker 13 at the sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit. and a sound emitting direction control section for controlling a sound emitting direction. The sound processing device includes a sound collecting unit 11 similar to that of the sound processing device of FIG. 4, and this sound collecting unit 11 has a plurality of microphones. The sound collection unit 11 is preferably arranged at an intermediate position between the speakers P1 and P2. In addition, the sound processing device includes a control unit 12 similar to that of the sound processing device of FIG. ing.

In the sound processing device, the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged close to each other (that is, a plurality of sound collecting microphones and the directional speaker 13 are arranged close to each other). Specifically, in the sound processing apparatus, both the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged in the booth X at the ceiling wall W3 or near the ceiling wall W3. The sound processing device can have the same configuration as the sound processing device in FIG.

<Advantages>
In the sound processing device, since a plurality of sound collecting microphones are arranged outside the directional range of the directional speaker 13, even when the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged close to each other, the sound in the booth X Conversation can be facilitated, and leakage of conversation content to the outside can be suppressed.

In the sound processing device, since the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged at or near the ceiling wall W3 in the booth X, the speakers P1 and P2 before being absorbed by the ceiling wall W3 are A voice is collected by a plurality of sound collecting microphones, the specific band emphasis means amplifies the high range of the sound signal collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones, and the directional speaker 13 outputs the sound signal to the booth X Sound can be emitted downward from the vicinity of the inner ceiling wall W3. Therefore, the sound processing device can easily complement the sound absorbed by the ceiling wall W3.

[Fourth embodiment]
<Sound processing device>
A speech processing device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The audio processing device of FIG. 8 is provided in a booth X partitioned in the indoor space. The sound processing device is provided in an indoor space including a main space Y and a plurality of booths X partitioned from the main space Y by one or a plurality of partitions 10, like the sound processing device in FIG. The sound processing device is provided corresponding to one booth X. As shown in FIG.

The audio processing apparatus may have the same configuration as the audio processing apparatus in FIG. 7 except that the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged on the top plate of the table A in close proximity. The directional speaker 13 is configured to emit sound toward the ceiling wall W3, and is set so that the sounds reflected by the ceiling wall W3 are directed to the speakers P1 and P2.

<Advantages>
Since the sound collecting unit 11 and the directional speaker 13 are arranged on the top plate of the table A, the sound processing apparatus can be easily installed and the installation cost can be suppressed. In addition, in the sound processing device, the control unit 12 has a sound processing section, and this sound processing section has a specific band emphasis means, so that the high range of the sound signal collected by the plurality of sound collecting microphones can be can be amplified. Therefore, even if part of the high-range sound emitted from the directional speaker 13 is absorbed by the ceiling wall W3, the sound processing apparatus can reproduce the voices of the speakers P1 and P2 that are close to the real voices of the other speaker. It can be transmitted to P1 and P2.

[Other embodiments]
The above embodiments do not limit the configuration of the present invention. Therefore, in the embodiment, the components of each part of the embodiment can be omitted, replaced, or added based on the description of the present specification and common general technical knowledge, and all of them are interpreted as belonging to the scope of the present invention. should.

The configurations of the embodiments described above can be combined as appropriate, and for example, the number of microphones and directional speakers in the audio processing device can be changed as needed. If the audio processing device is equipped with multiple microphones and/or multiple directional speakers, the number of these microphones and directional speakers shall be set according to the number of expected speakers in the booth. can be done.

The installation location of the microphone and/or the directional speaker in the audio processing device is not particularly limited. For example, the microphones and/or the directional speakers may be installed in partitions that separate booths.

The audio processing device is preferably installed in a semi-open space with one or more partitions separating the booths, but may be installed in an open space without one or more partitions.

Even if the sound processing device has the sound source position calculation unit and the sound emission direction control unit, the specific configurations of the sound source position calculation unit and the sound emission direction control unit are not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments. The sound source position calculation unit may include, for example, sensors that detect the heads of the speakers P1 and P2, and the sound emission direction control unit may control the sound emission directions of a plurality of planar speakers. .

The audio processing unit does not necessarily have a specific band enhancement means. 4 may be used instead of the audio processing section of the audio processing apparatus of FIG. 1, and the control unit of the audio processing apparatus of FIGS. may be used.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the speech processing apparatus of the present invention facilitates conversation and suppresses the leakage of the content of the conversation to the outside. It can be suitably applied to space.

1, 11a Sound collection microphones 2, 14 Sound processing unit 2a Amplitude adjustment unit 2b Specific band enhancement unit 3a, 3b, 13 Directional speaker 10 Partition 11 Sound collection unit 12 Control unit 15 Sound source position calculation unit 16 Sound emission direction control unit A Table B Chair O Open areas P1, P2 Speaker W1 Side wall W2 Bottom wall W3 Ceiling wall X Booth Y Main space

Claims (3)

three or more microphones that collect the voices of multiple speakers in booths that are partitioned in the indoor space;
an audio processing unit having amplitude adjusting means for adjusting at least the amplitude of audio signals collected by the three or more microphones;
one or more directional speakers for emitting sounds adjusted by the sound processing unit toward the plurality of speakers;
a sound source position calculation unit that calculates sound source positions of audio signals collected by the three or more microphones;
a sound emission direction control unit that controls the sound emission direction of the one or more directional speakers at the sound source position calculated by the sound source position calculation unit;
The three or more microphones are located at intermediate positions of the plurality of speakers so that they are used commonly by the plurality of speakers, and are spaced apart from each speaker, and the one or more directional speakers. is located outside the directivity range of
The three or more microphones and the one or more directional speakers are arranged close to each other on a table, and the one or more directional speakers are configured to emit sound toward the ceiling wall. ,
The sound source position calculation unit calculates the sound source position based on the time difference between the voices of the speaker reaching the respective microphones;
The audio processing unit has specific band enhancement means for amplifying a specific sound range of the audio signal collected by the three or more microphones,
The audio processing device in which the specific band enhancement means amplifies a high frequency range. 2. The audio processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said amplitude adjusting means adjusts the amplitude of the audio signals collected by said three or more microphones for each speaker to be sounded by said one or more directional speakers. 3. The audio processing device according to claim 1, further comprising one or more partitions that partition the booths.

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