Method and Device for Low Delay Processing

• US 20090017784A1
• Filed: 11/23/2006
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd. (Cirrus Logic Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Wolfson Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd (Cirrus Logic Incorporated)
• Inventors: Steele, Brenton Robert, Dickson, Bonar
• Granted Patent: US 8,385,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/296
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0364 for improving intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 17/0211 using specific transformation algorithms, e.g. WALSH functions, Fermat transforms, Mersenne transforms, polynomial transforms, Hilbert transforms correlation computation G06F17/156
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 17/0216 Quefrency domain filters
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 17/0294 Variable filters; Programmable filters
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 21/0012 Digital adaptive filters
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 21/0016 Non linear filters
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/505 using digital signal processing

Abstract

Adaptively processing an input signal, such as an input signal of a hearing aid. The input signal is passed through an adaptive time domain filter to produce an output signal. At least one of the input signal and the output signal is used as an analysis signal. The analysis signal is transformed into a transform domain to produce a transformed analysis signal, which is analysed to produce a desired gain for each respective transform domain sub-band. A minimum phase time domain filter characteristic is synthesised which approaches the desired gains. The adaptive filter is updated with the synthesised filter characteristic.

Claims

1-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A method of adaptively processing an input signal, the method comprising:

passing the input signal through an adaptive warped time domain filter to produce an output signal;

taking at least one of the input signal and the output signal as an analysis signal;

transforming the analysis signal into a warped frequency domain to produce a transformed analysis signal;

analysing the transformed analysis signal to produce a plurality of desired gains each corresponding to a respective warped frequency domain sub-band;

synthesising a minimum phase warped time domain filter characteristic which approaches the desired gains; and

updating the adaptive warped filter with the synthesised filter characteristic.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the warped frequency domain is an approximation of the Bark scale.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the transforming is performed by taking a warped FFT of the analysis signal.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the warped FFT is taken by passing the analysis signal through a first cascade of all pass filters and performing a FFT on an output of each stage of the cascade.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the adaptive warped time domain filter comprises a warped FIR filter.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the warped FIR filter operates upon the output of each stage of a second cascade of all pass filters through which the input signal is passed.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the input signal is the analysis signal, and wherein a single cascade of all pass filters serves as both the first cascade of all pass filters and the second cascade of all pass filters.

44. The method of claim 37 further comprising limiting phase non-linearity of the adaptive filter below a perception threshold.

45. The method of claim 37 wherein synthesis of the minimum phase filter characteristic comprises:

obtaining the cepstrum (IFFT) of the logarithmically expressed desired gains;

ensuring the cepstrum is causal; and

taking the FFT of the causal cepstrum to produce logarithmically expressed minimum phase desired gains.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein ensuring the cepstrum is causal comprises applying a folding sequence to the cepstrum, to fold exponentials of the cepstrum (quefrency components) in the non-causal (rear) half of the cepstrum into the causal (forward) half of the cepstrum.

47. The method of claim 45 wherein the folding sequence is also a cepstral smoothing sequence.

48. The method of claim 45 wherein a synthesis window function is applied in the time domain as part of filter synthesis for spectral smoothing.

49. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

converting the causal cepstrum back to a complex numbered spectrum (logarithmically expressed minimum phase desired gains) by FFT;

converting the logarithmically expressed minimum phase desired gains to linear expression by taking the exponential; and

returning the linearly expressed minimum phase desired gains to the time domain by IFFT to form the basis of time domain warped filter synthesis.

50. The method of claim 37 wherein the adaptive warped filter is a FIR filter, and wherein synthesis of the minimum phase filter characteristic comprises:

expressing a characteristic polynomial of the FIR filter;

factoring the characteristic polynomial to locate poles and zeros of the FIR filter; and

revising the characteristic polynomial by reciprocating each pole and zero outside the unit circle into the unit circle, to obtain a minimum phase FIR filter.

51. The method of claim 37 further comprising applying preventative measures to reduce the rate of gain variation between the desired gains, such that the synthesised filter is more likely to be able to replicate a response defined by the desired gains.

52. The method of claim 37 further comprising applying compensatory measures to measure the extent of gain errors in the output signal, and to apply appropriate feedback for ongoing iterations of generating desired gains and synthesising the filter, so as to reduce such errors.

55. The method of claim 48 wherein the synthesis window function comprises one of a rectangular window, a Hamming window, and a hybrid asymmetric Hamming function.

56. The method of claim 40 wherein the folding sequence (λ

_min[q]) for ensuring the cepstrum is causal comprises;

0<

λ

_min[q]≦

2 for q=0 . . . L/2+1

λ

_min[q]=0 for q=L/2+2 . . . L−

1,

where L is the window/FFT length, and q=0 . . . L−

1.

57. The method of claim 40 wherein the folding sequence (λ

_min[q]) comprises;

λ

_min[q]=0.54+0.46 cos(2π

q/L) for q=0 &

L/2+1

λ

_min[q]=1.08+0.92 cos(2π

q/L) for q=1 . . . L/2

λ

_min[q]=0 otherwise.

58. The method of claim 40 wherein the folding sequence (λ

_min[q]) comprises;

λ

_min[q]=1 for q=0 &

L/2+1

λ

_min[q]=2 for q=1 . . . L/2

λ

_min[q]=0 otherwise.

59. The method of claim 37 wherein updating the adaptive filter to at least approach the synthesised filter characteristic comprises varying the adaptive filter by no more than a pre-defined amount, in order to avoid inappropriate user perceptions.

53. A computer program for adaptively processing an input signal, the computer program comprising:

code for passing the input signal through an adaptive warped time domain filter to produce an output signal;

code for taking at least one of the input signal and the output signal as an analysis signal;

code for transforming the analysis signal into a warped frequency domain to produce a transformed analysis signal;

code for analysing the transformed analysis signal to produce a plurality of desired gains each corresponding to a respective warped frequency domain sub-band;

code for synthesising a minimum phase warped time domain filter characteristic which approaches the desired gains; and

code for updating the adaptive warped filter with the synthesised filter characteristic.

54. A device for adaptively processing an input signal, the device comprising:

an adaptive warped time domain filter for producing an output signal from an input signal;

a transform block for taking an analysis signal from at least one of the input signal and the output signal, and for transforming the analysis signal into a warped frequency domain to produce a transformed analysis signal;

a processor for analysing the transformed analysis signal to produce a plurality of desired gains each corresponding to a respective warped frequency domain sub-band;

a filter synthesiser for synthesising a minimum phase warped time domain filter characteristic which approaches the desired gains, and for updating the adaptive warped filter with the synthesised filter characteristic.