Multi-band Spectral Subtraction Method Research Articles

A modified weighted overlap and add-based spectral subtraction method

The Weighted Overlap and Add (WOLA) method is an optimization of frequency modulated DFT filter banks. However, the decrement in frequency resolution of speech signal caused by WOLA leads to noise estimation error. In this study, a speech power compression and gain compensation method was proposed to solve the low-resolution problem from the WOLA process. Finally, a multi-band spectral subtraction method was developed by combining the WOLA and the spectral subtraction algorithm in frequency domain. The noise reduction degrees were determined by the individual Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs) in each frequency bands. Objective evaluation of the proposed noise reduction method was performed based on Itakura-Saito Distortion Measure under different types of noise. Statistical results showed that this proposed method could improve noisy speech by 5 dB SNR with little distortion. This noise reduction method has an advantage on low computation load, real-time processing and good performance on noise reduction. So this method can be implemented in embedded devices, e.g. hearing aid and cochlear implants. # This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11104316). and Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (11ZR1446000).

SPEECH ENHANCEMENT FOR ROBUST SPEECH RECOGNITION IN MOTORCYCLE ENVIRONMENT

In the present work, we investigate the performance of a number of traditional and recent speech enhancement algorithms in the adverse non-stationary conditions, which are distinctive for motorcycles on the move. The performance of these algorithms is ranked in terms of the improvement they contribute to the speech recognition accuracy, when compared to the baseline performance, i.e. without speech enhancement. The experiments on the MoveOn motorcycle speech and noise database indicated that there is no equivalence between the ranking of algorithms based on the human perception of speech quality and the speech recognition performance. The Multi-band spectral subtraction method was observed to lead to the highest speech recognition performance.

The Application of Nonlinear Spectral Subtraction Method on Millimeter Wave Conducted Speech Enhancement

A nonlinear multiband spectral subtraction method is investigated in this study to reduce the colored electronic noise in millimeter wave (MMW) radar conducted speech. Because the over-subtraction factor of each Bark frequency band can be adaptively adjusted, the nonuniform effects of colored noise in the spectrum of the MMW radar speech can be taken into account in the enhancement process. Both the results of the time-frequency distribution analysis and perceptual evaluation test suggest that a better whole-frequency noise reduction effect is obtained, and the perceptually annoying musical noise was efficiently reduced, with little distortion to speech information as compared to the other standard speech enhancement algorithm.