Interface for barge-in free spoken dialogue system based on sound field control and microphone array

In this paper, a barge-in free spoken dialogue system using sound field control and microphone array is proposed. In the conventional spoken dialogue system using an acoustic echo canceller, it is indispensable to estimate and update the room transfer function, especially when the transfer function is changed by various interferences. However the estimation process for the transfer function prevents the user from speaking freely and simultaneously with speech responses from the system. In order to resolve the problem, we have already proposed a barge-in free spoken dialogue system that controls a sound field using multiple loudspeakers. In this paper, a microphone array for acquisition of user's speech is newly introduced in the previously proposed system. By introducing the microphone array, we can reduce the number of loudspeakers to be required in the system, and make the interface for spoken dialogue system more robust against the change of room transfer functions.