A low complexity double-talk detector based on the signal envelope

Abstract

A new algorithm for double-talk detection, intended for use in the acoustic echo canceller for voice communication applications, is proposed. The communication system developed by the authors required the use of a double-talk detection algorithm with low complexity and good accuracy. The authors propose an approach to double-talk detection based on the signal envelopes. For each of three signals: the far-end speech, the microphone signal and the echo estimate, an envelope is detected. Next, using these envelopes, a detection function is determined and compared to the threshold. Additionally, a dynamic threshold is introduced in order to improve the accuracy of the algorithm. The results of the simulations presented in the paper proved that the accuracy of double-talk detection obtained using the proposed algorithm is higher than in the Geigel algorithm and comparable to the correlation-based methods, while the computational complexity of the proposed method remains at an acceptable level. The double-talk detection algorithm presented here may be used in voice communication systems having limited resources, allowing for accurate double-talk detection and, as a consequence, efficient acoustic echo cancellation.