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Use the Microsoft Audio Stack (MAS)

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The Speech SDK integrates Microsoft Audio Stack (MAS), allowing any application or product to use its audio processing capabilities on input audio. See the Audio processing documentation for an overview.

In this article, you learn how to use the Microsoft Audio Stack (MAS) with the Speech SDK.

Important

On Speech SDK for C++ and C# v1.33.0 and newer, the Microsoft.CognitiveServices.Speech.Extension.MAS package must be installed to use the Microsoft Audio Stack on Windows, and on Linux if you install the Speech SDK using NuGet.

Default options

This sample shows how to use MAS with all default enhancement options on input from the device's default microphone.

var speechConfig = SpeechConfig.FromSubscription("YourSubscriptionKey", "YourServiceRegion");

var audioProcessingOptions = AudioProcessingOptions.Create(AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_ENABLE_DEFAULT);
var audioInput = AudioConfig.FromDefaultMicrophoneInput(audioProcessingOptions);

var recognizer = new SpeechRecognizer(speechConfig, audioInput);

Preset microphone geometry

This sample shows how to use MAS with a predefined microphone geometry on a specified audio input device. In this example:

  • Enhancement options - The default enhancements are applied on the input audio stream.
  • Preset geometry - The preset geometry represents a linear 2-microphone array.
  • Audio input device - The audio input device ID is hw:0,1. For more information on how to select an audio input device, see How to: Select an audio input device with the Speech SDK.
var speechConfig = SpeechConfig.FromSubscription("YourSubscriptionKey", "YourServiceRegion");

var audioProcessingOptions = AudioProcessingOptions.Create(AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_ENABLE_DEFAULT, PresetMicrophoneArrayGeometry.Linear2);
var audioInput = AudioConfig.FromMicrophoneInput("hw:0,1", audioProcessingOptions);

var recognizer = new SpeechRecognizer(speechConfig, audioInput);

Custom microphone geometry

This sample shows how to use MAS with a custom microphone geometry on a specified audio input device. In this example:

  • Enhancement options - The default enhancements are applied on the input audio stream.
  • Custom geometry - A custom microphone geometry for a 7-microphone array is provided via the microphone coordinates. The units for coordinates are millimeters.
  • Audio input - The audio input is from a file, where the audio within the file is expected from an audio input device corresponding to the custom geometry specified.
var speechConfig = SpeechConfig.FromSubscription("YourSubscriptionKey", "YourServiceRegion");

MicrophoneCoordinates[] microphoneCoordinates = new MicrophoneCoordinates[7]
{
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(0, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(40, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(20, -35, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(-20, -35, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(-40, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(-20, 35, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(20, 35, 0)
};
var microphoneArrayGeometry = new MicrophoneArrayGeometry(MicrophoneArrayType.Planar, microphoneCoordinates);
var audioProcessingOptions = AudioProcessingOptions.Create(AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_ENABLE_DEFAULT, microphoneArrayGeometry, SpeakerReferenceChannel.LastChannel);
var audioInput = AudioConfig.FromWavFileInput("katiesteve.wav", audioProcessingOptions);

var recognizer = new SpeechRecognizer(speechConfig, audioInput);

Select enhancements

This sample shows how to use MAS with a custom set of enhancements on the input audio. By default, all enhancements are enabled but there are options to disable dereverberation, noise suppression, automatic gain control, and echo cancellation individually by using AudioProcessingOptions.

In this example:

  • Enhancement options - Echo cancellation and noise suppression are disabled, while all other enhancements remain enabled.
  • Audio input device - The audio input device is the default microphone of the device.
var speechConfig = SpeechConfig.FromSubscription("YourSubscriptionKey", "YourServiceRegion");

var audioProcessingOptions = AudioProcessingOptions.Create(AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_DISABLE_ECHO_CANCELLATION | AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_DISABLE_NOISE_SUPPRESSION | AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_ENABLE_DEFAULT);
var audioInput = AudioConfig.FromDefaultMicrophoneInput(audioProcessingOptions);

var recognizer = new SpeechRecognizer(speechConfig, audioInput);

Specify beamforming angles

This sample shows how to use MAS with a custom microphone geometry and beamforming angles on a specified audio input device. In this example:

  • Enhancement options - The default enhancements are applied on the input audio stream.
  • Custom geometry - A custom microphone geometry for a 4-microphone array is provided by specifying the microphone coordinates. The units for coordinates are millimeters.
  • Beamforming angles - Beamforming angles are specified to optimize for audio originating in that range. The units for angles are degrees.
  • Audio input - The audio input is from a push stream, where the audio within the stream is expected from an audio input device corresponding to the custom geometry specified.

In the following code example, the start angle is set to 70 degrees and the end angle is set to 110 degrees.

var speechConfig = SpeechConfig.FromSubscription("YourSubscriptionKey", "YourServiceRegion");

MicrophoneCoordinates[] microphoneCoordinates = new MicrophoneCoordinates[4]
{
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(-60, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(-20, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(20, 0, 0),
    new MicrophoneCoordinates(60, 0, 0)
};
var microphoneArrayGeometry = new MicrophoneArrayGeometry(MicrophoneArrayType.Linear, 70, 110, microphoneCoordinates);
var audioProcessingOptions = AudioProcessingOptions.Create(AudioProcessingConstants.AUDIO_INPUT_PROCESSING_ENABLE_DEFAULT, microphoneArrayGeometry, SpeakerReferenceChannel.LastChannel);
var pushStream = AudioInputStream.CreatePushStream();
var audioInput = AudioConfig.FromStreamInput(pushStream, audioProcessingOptions);

var recognizer = new SpeechRecognizer(speechConfig, audioInput);

Reference channel for echo cancellation

Microsoft Audio Stack requires the reference channel (also known as loopback channel) to perform echo cancellation. The source of the reference channel varies by platform:

  • Windows - The reference channel is automatically gathered by the Speech SDK if the SpeakerReferenceChannel::LastChannel option is provided when creating AudioProcessingOptions.
  • Linux - ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) must be configured to provide the reference audio stream as the last channel for the audio input device used. ALSA is configured in addition to providing the SpeakerReferenceChannel::LastChannel option when creating AudioProcessingOptions.

Language and platform support

Language Platform Reference docs
C++ Windows, Linux C++ docs
C# Windows, Linux C# docs
Java Windows, Linux Java docs

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