The LOCATA Challenge: Acoustic Source Localization and Tracking

The ability to localize and track acoustic events is a fundamental prerequisite for equipping machines with the ability to be aware of and engage with humans in their surrounding environment. However, in realistic scenarios, audio signals are adversely affected by reverberation, noise, interference, and periods of speech inactivity. In dynamic scenarios, where the sources and microphone platforms may be moving, the signals are additionally affected by variations in the source-sensor geometries. In practice, approaches to sound source localization and tracking are often impeded by missing estimates of active sources, estimation errors, as well as false estimates. The aim of the LOCAlization and TrAcking (LOCATA) Challenge is an open-access framework for the objective evaluation and benchmarking of broad classes of algorithms for sound source localization and tracking. This article provides a review of relevant localization and tracking algorithms and, within the context of the existing literature, a detailed evaluation and dissemination of the LOCATA submissions. The evaluation highlights achievements in the field, open challenges, and identifies potential future directions.