Speech and Audio Processing in Adverse Environments

Abstract

The book reflects the state of the art in important areas of speech and audio signal processing. It presents topics which are missed so far and most recent findings in the field. Leading international experts report on their field of work and their new results. Considerable amount of space is covered by multi-microphone systems, specific approaches for noise reduction, and evaluations of speech signals and speech processing systems. Multi-microphone systems include automatic calibration of microphones, localisation of sound sources, and source separation procedures. Also covered are recent approaches to the problem of adaptive echo and noise suppression. A novel solution allows the design of filter banks exhibiting bands spaced according to the Bark scale und especially short delay times. Furthermore, a method for engine noise reduction and proposals for improving the signal/noise ratio based on partial signal reconstruction or using a noise reference are reported. A number of contributions deal with speech quality. Besides basic considerations for quality evaluation specific methods for bandwidth extension of telephone speech are described. Procedures to reduce the reverberation of audio signals can help to increase speech intelligibility and speech recognition rates. In addition, solutions for specific applications in speech and audio signal processing are reported including, e.g., the enhancement of audio signal reproduction in automobiles and the automatic evaluation of hands-free systems and hearing aids.