System and method for utilizing omni-directional microphones for speech enhancement

• US 20080019548A1
• Filed: 01/29/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Audience Corporation
• Inventors: Avendano, Carlos
• Granted Patent: US 8,194,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/313
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/027 Spatial or constructional arrangements of microphones, e.g. in dummy heads

Abstract

Systems and methods for utilizing inter-microphone level differences (ILD) to attenuate noise and enhance speech are provided. In exemplary embodiments, primary and secondary acoustic signals are received by omni-directional microphones, and converted into primary and secondary electric signals. A differential microphone array module processes the electric signals to determine a cardioid primary signal and a cardioid secondary signal. The cardioid signals are filtered through a frequency analysis module which takes the signals and mimics a cochlea implementation (i.e., cochlear domain). Energy levels of the signals are then computed, and the results are processed by an ILD module using a non-linear combination to obtain the ILD. In exemplary embodiments, the non-linear combination comprises dividing the energy level associated with the primary microphone by the energy level associated with the secondary microphone. The ILD is utilized by a noise reduction system to enhance the speech of the primary acoustic signal.

Claims

1. A system for enhancing speech, comprising:

a primary and secondary microphone configured to receive a primary acoustic signal and a secondary acoustic signal;

a differential microphone array (DMA) module configured to determine a cardioid primary signal and a cardioid secondary signal based on a primary electric signal converted from the primary acoustic signal and secondary electric signal converted from the secondary acoustic signal; and

an inter-microphone level difference module configured to non-linearly combine components of the cardioid primary signal and the cardioid secondary signal to obtain an inter-microphone level difference.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the DMA module is configured to determine the cardioid primary signal by taking a difference between the primary electric signal and a delayed and level-equalized secondary electric signal.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the DMA module is configured to determine the cardioid primary signal by determining a gain and taking a difference between a primary electric signal and a delayed secondary signal adjusted by the gain.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the gain is the ratio between a magnitude of the primary acoustic signal and a magnitude of the secondary acoustic signal.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the DMA module is configured to determine the cardioid secondary signal by taking a difference between the level-equalized secondary electric signal and a delayed primary electric signal.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a frequency analysis module configured to determine frequencies for the cardioid primary signal and the cardioid secondary signal.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising an energy module configured to determine energy estimates for a frame of the cardioid primary signal and the cardioid secondary signal.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a noise estimate module configured to determine a noise estimate for the primary acoustic signal based on an energy estimate of the cardioid primary signal and the inter-microphone level difference.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a filter module configured to determine a filter estimate to be applied to the primary acoustic signal.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a filter smoothing module configured to smooth the filter estimate prior to applying the filter estimate to the primary acoustic signal.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising a masking module configured to determine a speech estimate.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a frequency synthesis module configured to convert the speech estimate into a time domain for output.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the DMA module determines the cardioid primary signal and a cardioid secondary signal of a sub-band of the primary electric signal.

14. A method for enhancing speech, comprising:

receiving a primary acoustic signal at a primary microphone and a secondary acoustic signal at a secondary microphone;

determining a cardioid primary signal and a cardioid secondary signal based on a primary electric signal converted from the primary acoustic signal and a secondary electric signal converted from the secondary acoustic signal; and

non-linearly combining components of the cardioid primary signal and cardioid secondary signal to obtain an inter-microphone level difference.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the cardioid primary signal comprises taking a difference between the primary electric signal and a delayed secondary electric signal.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the cardioid primary signal comprises determining a gain and taking a difference between a primary electric signal and a delayed secondary signal adjusted by the gain.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the gain is the ratio between a magnitude of the primary acoustic signal and a magnitude of the secondary acoustic signal.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the cardioid secondary signal comprises taking a difference between the secondary electric signal and a delayed primary electric signal.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein non-linearly combining comprises dividing the component of the cardioid primary signal by the component of the cardioid secondary signal.

20. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining an energy estimate for each of the acoustic signals during a frame.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining a noise estimate based on an energy estimate of the primary acoustic signal and the inter-microphone level difference.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising determining a filter estimate based on the noise estimate of the primary acoustic signal, the energy estimate of the primary acoustic signal, and the inter-microphone level difference.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising producing a speech estimate by applying the filter estimate to the primary acoustic signal.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising smoothing the filter estimate.

25. The method of claim 14 wherein the cardioid primary signal and the cardioid secondary signal is of a sub-band of the primary electric signal.

26. A machine readable medium having embodied thereon a program, the program providing instructions for a method for enhancing speech, comprising:

receiving a primary acoustic signal at a primary microphone and a secondary acoustic signal at a secondary microphone;

determining a cardioid primary signal and a cardioid secondary signal based on a primary electric signal converted from the primary acoustic signal and a secondary electric signal converted from the secondary acoustic signal; and

non-linearly combining components of the cardioid primary signal and the cardioid primary signal to obtain an inter-microphone level difference.