Bangs, Clicks, Snaps, Thuds and Whacks: An Architecture for Acoustic Transient Processing

We propose a neuromorphic architecture for real-time processing of acoustic transients in analog VLSI. We show how judicious normalization of a time-frequency signal allows an elegant and robust implementation of a correlation algorithm. The algorithm uses binary multiplexing instead of analog-analog multiplication. This removes the need for analog storage and analog-multiplication. Simulations show that the resulting algorithm has the same out-of-sample classification performance (∼93% correct) as a baseline template-matching algorithm.