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Cobra VAD — C Quick Start

Platforms

  • Linux (x86_64)
  • macOS (x86_64, arm64)
  • Windows (x86_64, arm64)
  • Raspberry Pi (Zero, 3, 4, 5)

Requirements

  • C99-compatible compiler
  • CMake (3.13+)
  • For Windows Only: MinGW is required to build the demo

Picovoice Account & AccessKey

Signup or Login to Picovoice Console to get your AccessKey. Make sure to keep your AccessKey secret.

Quick Start

Setup

  1. Clone the repository:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Picovoice/cobra.git

Usage

  1. Include the public header files (picovoice.h and pv_cobra.h).
  2. Link the project to an appropriate precompiled library for the target platform and load it.
  3. Construct the Cobra Voice Activity Detection object:
static const char* ACCESS_KEY = "${ACCESS_KEY}";
pv_cobra_t *cobra;
const pv_status_t status = pv_cobra_init(
ACCESS_KEY
&cobra);
if (status != PV_STATUS_SUCCESS) {
// error handling logic
}
  1. Pass in audio to the pv_cobra_process function:
extern const int16_t *get_next_audio_frame(void);
while (true) {
const int16_t *pcm = get_next_audio_frame();
float is_voiced = 0.f;
const pv_status_t status = pv_cobra_process(cobra, pcm, &is_voiced);
if (status != PV_STATUS_SUCCESS) {
// error handling logic
}
}
  1. Release resources explicitly when done with Cobra Voice Activity Detection:
pv_cobra_delete(cobra);

Demo

For the Cobra Voice Activity Detection SDK, we offer demo applications that demonstrate how to use the VAD engine on real-time audio streams (i.e. microphone input) and audio files.

Setup

  1. Clone the Cobra Voice Activity Detection repository from GitHub using HTTPS:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Picovoice/cobra.git
  1. Build the microphone demo:
cd cobra
cmake -S demo/c/. -B demo/c/build
cmake --build demo/c/build --target cobra_demo_mic

Usage

To see the usage options for the demo:

./demo/c/build/cobra_demo_mic

Ensure you have a working microphone connected to your system and run the command corresponding to your platform to detect voice activity:

./demo/c/build/cobra_demo_mic \
-l lib/${PLATFORM}/${ARCH}/libpv_cobra.so \
-a ${ACCESS_KEY} \
-d ${AUDIO_DEVICE_INDEX}

For more information on our Cobra Voice Activity Detection demos for C, head over to our GitHub repository.

Resources

API

  • Cobra Voice Activity Detection C API Docs

GitHub

  • Cobra Voice Activity Detection C Demos on GitHub

Benchmark

  • Voice Activity Benchmark

Further Reading

  • Yet Another Voice Activity Detection Engine

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