clap-detector

Clap detection module for node js

Synopsis

ClapDetector is a hand clap detection module for nodejs (iojs). It detects a clap or a series of claps and allows you to trigger callbacks whenever these events happen. I created this module for my personal assistant project on a Raspberry Pi (raspbian). The clap detection allows me to activate the assistant whenever I need it (and prevents it from continuously listening out for instructions or interpreting random noises as instructions)

Requirements

This module works on linux based OS (raspbian, Ubuntu, Debian...) using alsa for audio and a working microphone or Mac OS X using coreaudio.

Installation

This module requires sox, "the Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs" (http://sox.sourceforge.net/) to be installed

Linux

sudo apt-get install sox

Mac OS X

brew install sox

npm install

You can simply add this module to your node.js project with

// sudo might be required depending on your system
npm install --save clap-detector

Usage

There are thee public methods you can use:

• clapDetector.start(clapConfig); => this needs to be called to initialize clap detection. The clapConfig object is not mandatory but you can use it to overwrite the default configuration (see next section)
• clapDetector.onClap(yourcallbackfunctionhere) => register a callback that will be triggered whenever a clap of hand is detected
• clapDetector.onClaps(numberOfClaps, delay, yourcallbackfunctionhere) => register a callback that will be triggered whenever a series of claps (determined by the number of claps) is detected within the period of time you've specified (delay).

// Require the module
var clapDetector = require('clap-detector');

// Define configuration
var clapConfig = {
   AUDIO_SOURCE: 'alsa hw:1,0'// default for linux
};

// Start clap detection
clapDetector.start(clapConfig);

// Register on clap event
clapDetector.onClap(function() {
    //console.log('your callback code here ');
}.bind(this));

// Register to a serie of 3 claps occuring within 2 seconds
clapDetector.onClaps(3, 2000, function(delay) {
    //console.log('your callback code here ');
}.bind(this));

Configuration

You can pass a configuration object at the initialisation time (clapDetector.init(yourConfObject)). If you don't the following config will be used. You should at least provide the audio input (if different from the default config).

// DEFAULT CONFIG
var CONFIG = {
        AUDIO_SOURCE: 'hw:1,0', // this is your microphone input. If you don't know it you can refer to this thread (http://www.voxforge.org/home/docs/faq/faq/linux-how-to-determine-your-audio-cards-or-usb-mics-maximum-sampling-rate)
        DETECTION_PERCENTAGE_START : '5%', // minimum noise percentage threshold necessary to start recording sound
        DETECTION_PERCENTAGE_END: '5%',  // minimum noise percentage threshold necessary to stop recording sound
        CLAP_AMPLITUDE_THRESHOLD: 0.7, // minimum amplitude threshold to be considered as clap
        CLAP_ENERGY_THRESHOLD: 0.3,  // maximum energy threshold to be considered as clap
        MAX_HISTORY_LENGTH: 10 // all claps are stored in history, this is its max length
    };

If you wish to improve the clap detection you can fiddle with the CLAP_AMPLITUDE_THRESHOLD and CLAP_ENERGY_THRESHOLD values. Depending on your microphone these might need to be modified.

sox -c 1 SILENCE.WAV -n trim 0 2 noiseprof noise.prof

Tests

These will be added soon. Please do not hesitate to add some !

About the Author

I am a full-stack Javascript developer based in Lyon, France.

Check out my website

License

clap-detector is dual licensed under the MIT license and GPL. For more information click here.