A multipitch tracking algorithm for noisy speech

Abstract

An effective multipitch tracking algorithm for noisy speech is critical for acoustic signal processing. However, the performance of existing algorithms is not satisfactory. We present a robust algorithm for multipitch tracking of noisy speech. Our approach integrates an improved channel and peak selection method, a new method for extracting periodicity information across different channels, and a hidden Markov model (HMM) for forming continuous pitch tracks. The resulting algorithm can reliably track single and double pitch tracks in a noisy environment. We suggest a pitch error measure for the multipitch situation. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a database of speech utterances mixed with various types of interference. Quantitative comparisons show that our algorithm significantly outperforms existing ones.