Very low bit rate speech coding based on joint segmentation and variable length segment quantizer

Abstract

This paper presents a very low bit rate LPC vocoder based on a joint segmentation and quantization method using spectral segments having variable time length. The method exploits the nonuniform distribution of speech characteristics in the time and spectral domains. A measure of the spectral distance between a variable‐length input speech segment and a fixed‐length segment template is introduced based on linear time warping. The optimum segment boundaries and templates for a spectral sequence are efficiently determined using a dynamic programming technique so that the total spectral distortion in a voice interval is minimized. The segment templates are obtained by a sub‐optimum pattern learning method, which guarantees a monotonic decrease in distortion, using a combined segmentation and clustering technique. Experimental results for a single male speaker show that this method reduces the initial distortion by 20% and yields a sound articulation score of 78%.