Overview

HARKTOOL5-GUI is a web browser based graphical user interface that generates and visualizes transfer function for sound source localization and separation.

Using HARKTOOL5-GUI, you can do the following things:

Getting Started

Dependent software

HARKTOOL5-GUI depends on following softwares. Please install them before you install HARKTOOL5-GUI.

Install

For Linux users

  1. Add HARK repository. For details, see https://www.hark.jp/install/linux/

  2. Install HARKTOOL5-GUI. Execute sudo apt install harktool5-gui

For Windows users

  1. https://www.hark.jp/install/windows/ to install Hark for Windows and dependent software.

Step 1: Open the HARKTOOL5-GUI

For Linux users

On the terminal, run harktool5_gui. Then, chrome browser will be opened immediately.

For Windows users

On the Start Menu, Click HARK > HARKTool. Then, chrome browser will be opend immediately.

Screen shot

Step 1: The initial screen

Step 2: Create the microphone array coordinate file

If you want to use the old microphone location information file, see Migration of microphone location information file.

  1. Click “Microphone array positions” > “Create”.

  2. Select the coordinate model.

  3. Input parameters. Distance unit is meter.

General parameters

Position Type

Fixed “microphone”

Output File

Specifies the Output File name

  1. Clicking the “Create” button at the bottom of the screen creates a microphone array coordinate file and displays the 3D graph on the right.

  2. Click on the “Go back to the top page” link or the “HARKTOOL5” title on the screen and return to the top screen.

  3. The created microphone array coordinate file can be downloaded by clicking “Microphone array positions”> “Download”.

Screen shot

Step 2: After creating microphone array coordinate file

Step 3: Create sound source coordinate file

If you want to use the old TSP response list file, see Migration of TSP response list file.

Also, if you want to use the old impulse response list file, see Migration of impulse response list file.

  1. Click “Sound source positions” > “Create”.

  2. Select the coordinate model.

  3. Input parameters.

General parameters

Position Type

Select “tsp” when using the recorded TSP, otherwise select “impulse” when using impulse response (wav format)

Wav File Path

Specifies the storage path of the recorded TSP file or impulse response (wave format). The following chart represents the templates and its respective units of measurement.

RADIUS

( Unit m )

ELEVATION

( Unit deg )

AZIMUTH

( Unit deg )

X_AXIS

( Unit mm )

Y_AXIS

( Unit mm )

Z_AXIS

( Unit mm )

HEIGHT

( Unit mm )

Output File

Specifies the Output File name

Use Channels

Enumerate the microphone channels to use, separated by commas. A blank means use all channels

Neighbors parameters

Algorithm

Algorithm type. Fixed “NearestNeighbor”

Maximum Number

Maximum number of neighbors each position can have

Threshold

Threshold for neighbor decision (unit m)

  1. Clicking the “Create” button at the bottom of the screen creates a sound source coordinate file and displays the 3D graph on the right side.

  2. Click on the “Go back to the top page” link or the “HARKTOOL5” title on the screen and return to the top screen.

  3. The created sound source coordinate file can be downloaded by clicking “Sound source positions”> “Download”.

Screen shot

Step 3: After creating sound source coordinate file

Step 4: Create the transfer function file

When the microphone array coordinate file and the sound source coordinate file are prepared, a transfer function file can be created.

  1. Click “Transfer function” > “Create”.

  2. Input Config (General Parameters) when it is needed.

Sync. Add Num

The count of consecutive replays of TSP signal at the time of TSP signal recording

Original TSP Path

The filepath of the TSP signal of one cycle used for recording

TSP Offset

Start position to use the recorded file for transfer function calculation (unit sample 0 origin)

Peak Search From

Start position to search for a peak when calculating transfer function (unit sample 1 origin)

Peak Search To

End position to search for a peak when calculating transfer function (unit sample 1 origin)

Note

When 0 is specified for Peak Search, a peak is searched for in the range of all samples.

It considers the searched peak position as direct sound. Peak Search is used to ignore (delete) the reflection, for example, in the case of the refraction being louder than the direct sound.

FFT Length

The number of bins in the discrete frequency expression of the transfer function

Sampling Rate

Sampling frequency of the transfer function

Signal Max

The value of the maximum amplitude

TSP Length

The length of one recorded TSP signal

The following figure shows the correspondence between the waveform of Typical TSP recording (17 times continuous TSP playback and its synchronized recording by wios) and the Config parameter.

Screen shot
  1. Input Transfer Function Parameters when it is needed.

Output File Name (zip)

Specifies the output file name of the Transfer Function

TF Calculation Type
Select method to calculate transfer function (Depending on the Position Type chosen in Step 3, some options may not be displayed.)
  • Use Impulse Response Files: Calculate transfer function from impulse response file

  • Use TSP Record Files: Calculate transfer function from TSP recorded file

  • Use Mouth TSP Record Files: Calculate transfer function from TSP recorded file by Transfer Function Estimation Using Complex Regression Model (New feature of HARKTOOL5)

  • Use Geometric Calculation: Calculate transfer function by geometric calculation

TF Type

Whether to include for localization or separation for transfer function file

Direct Sound Length

Number of samples consider as direct sound

Reverb Sound Length

Number of samples consider as reverberation

Normalize SRC axis

Whether to normalize the sound source axis of the transfer function

Normalize MIC axis

Whether to normalize the microphone channel axis of the transfer function

Normalize FREQ axis

Whether to normalize the frequency axis of the transfer function

Reset Mic Channels

Whether or not to reset the transfer functions microphone channel selected in “Create sound source coordinate file”. It will reset the channels selected starting from 0.

Note

In the case you choose to reset, it will make the transfer function compatible with HARKTOOL4.

  1. Clicking the “Create” button at the bottom of the screen creates a transfer function file.

  2. Click on the “Go back to the top page” link or the “HARKTOOL5” title on the screen and return to the top screen.

Screen shot

Step 4: After creating transfer function file

  1. By clicking “Transfer function” > “Visualize”, the created transfer function file can be confirmed in 3D graph.

TF type

Select transfer function(localization/separation) to be displayed

Domain

Select X axis (frequency/time) of graph

Z Axis

Select the type of Z axis (only in frequency domain)

  • Amplitude: Display amplitude spectrum

  • Amplitude in dB: Display amplitude spectrum in decibels

  • Phase: Display phase spectrum

Screen shot

Display transfer function

  1. By clicking “Transfer function” > “Download”, the created transfer function file can be download.

Transfer Function Estimation Using Complex Regression Model

This method can estimate transfer functions from the recorded multi-channel acoustic signals using a complex regression model. The characteristics of the method are as follows:

To use Transfer Function Estimation Using Complex Regression Model, select Use Mouth TSP Record Files for TF Type in Step 4: Create the transfer function file. The following parameters will be added, so input when it is needed:

Mouth TSP Start

Start position to use the recorded file for transfer function calculation (unit sample 0 origin). This is an alias for Config > TSP Offset.

Mouth TSP End

End position to use the recorded file or transfer function calculation (unit sample 0 origin)

Mouth TSP mch

Reference microphone channel

Mouth TSP hop

Shift length (unit sample) at transfer function calculation

Mouth TSP Head Margin

Margin at the head position of the impulse response (unit sample). If there is a microphone channel from which the direct sound arrives earlier than the mch, a corresponding margin is needed. In the usual case, it is desirable to set a margin of about 128 (= FFT Length / 4).

Screen shot

Transfer Function Estimation Using Complex Regression Model parmeters

Algorithm

The input signal S, the impulse response H, and the output signal X are expressed in the frequency domain by the following numerical formula:

\[X = H \cdot S\]

Since it is the same sound field for different time frame \(t = 1 \cdots N\), it is expressed by the following determinant:

\[\begin{split}\left[ \begin{array}{c} X_{1} \\ X_{2} \\ \vdots \\ X_{N}\\ \end{array} \right] &= H \cdot \left[ \begin{array}{c} S_{1} \\ S_{2} \\ \vdots \\ S_{N}\\ \end{array} \right] \\ \boldsymbol{X} &= H \cdot \boldsymbol{S} \\ H &= \boldsymbol{S}^+ \cdot \boldsymbol{X}\end{split}\]

Migration from HARKTOOL4

  1. Install Python 2.7 or later.

  2. Download the migration tool from https://www.hark.jp/downloads/harktool5migrationtool.zip .

  3. Extract it to working directory.

Migration of microphone location information file

  1. Execute python conv4mic.py <microphone location information file> <output file>.

e.g.) python conv4mic.py miclist.xml microphones.xml

  1. The output file can be loaded from “Microphone array positions” > “Upload” of HARKTOOL5-GUI.

Migration of TSP response list file

  1. Execute python conv4src.py <TSP response list file> <output file>.

e.g.) python conv4src.py tsplist.xml source.xml

  1. The output file can be loaded from “Sound source positions”> “Upload” of HARKTOOL5-GUI.

Migration of impulse response list file

  1. Execute python conv4src.py <impulse response list file> <output file>.

e.g.) python conv4src.py implist.xml source.xml

  1. The output file can be loaded from “Sound source positions”> “Upload” of HARKTOOL5-GUI.

  2. Since the `` flt2multiwav.txt`` file is also output, the flt file is converted to a wav file by executing the command output in the file.