Audio signal processor, method, and program for suppressing noise components from input audio signals

• US 9,418,676 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2013
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Company Limited
• Original Assignee: OKI Electric Industry Company Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Katsuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): AZAD, ABUL K
• Application Number:
  US14/432,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20150294674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02161 Number of inputs available containing the signal or the noise to be suppressed
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/03 characterised by the type of extracted parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/40 by combining a number of identical transducers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/405
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

The invention provides an audio signal processing device capable of improving sound quality by causing a voice switch to operate appropriately. Delay-subtraction processing is performed on an input signal to form a first and second directional signal with nulls in a first and second specific direction, respectively, and a coherence is obtained using the two directional signals. The coherence is then compared to a determination threshold value to determine whether the input audio signal is a target-sound segment arriving from a target-direction, or a non-target-sound segment other than the target-sound segment. A gain is set according to the determination result, and any non-target-sound is attenuated by multiplying the input signal by the gain. The determination threshold value is controlled based on an average value of coherence in interfering-sound segments.

Claims

1. An audio signal processing device that suppresses noise components from input audio signals, the audio signal processing device comprising:

a first directionality forming section that by performing delay-subtraction processing on an input audio signal forms a first directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a first specific direction;

a second directionality forming section that by performing delay-subtraction processing on the input audio signal forms a second directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a second specific direction different from the first specific direction;

a coherence computation section that obtains a coherence using the first and second directional signals;

a target-sound segment detection section that by comparing the coherence with a first determination threshold value determines whether the input audio signal is a segment of a target-sound arriving from a target direction, or a non-target-sound segment other than the target-sound segment;

a target-sound segment determination threshold value controller that based on the coherence detects an interfering-sound segment from among non-target-sound segments including both the interfering-sound segment and a background noise segment, that obtains an interfering-sound average coherence value representing an average coherence value in the interfering-sound segment, and that controls the first determination threshold value based on the interfering-sound average coherence value;

a gain controller that sets a voice switch gain according to a determination result of the target-sound segment detection section; and

a voice switch gain multiplication section that multiplies the input audio signal by the voice switch gain obtained by the gain controller.

2. The audio signal processing device of claim 1, wherein the target-sound segment determination threshold value controller comprises:

an interfering-sound coherence average acquisition section that detects a non-target-sound segment by comparing the coherence with a second determination threshold value having a fixed value, that after obtaining data representing a degree of long-term variation in the coherence of the non-target-sound segment, detects an interfering-sound segment by comparing instantaneous values of the coherence, and that updates the interfering-sound average coherence value when an update condition is satisfied including at least being an interfering-sound segment, and preserves the interfering-sound average coherence value when the update condition is not satisfied;

a correspondence relationship holding section that holds correspondence relationship data between the interfering-sound average coherence value and the first determination threshold value; and

a target-sound segment determination threshold value acquisition section that obtains from the correspondence relationship holding section the first threshold value corresponding to the current interfering-sound average coherence value obtained by the interfering-sound average coherence computation section.

3. The audio signal processing device of claim 2, wherein, after computing a non-target-sound average coherence value representing the average value of coherence in a non-target-sound segment, the interfering-sound average coherence acquisition section detects the interfering-sound segment by comparing the absolute value of the difference between the instantaneous value of the coherence and the non-target-sound average coherence value, against a third determination threshold.

4. The audio signal processing device of claim 3, wherein the update condition of the interfering-sound average coherence acquisition section is a condition of being an interfering-sound segment and the instantaneous value of the coherence being greater than the non-target-sound average coherence value.

5. The audio signal processing device of claim 3, wherein the interfering-sound average coherence acquisition section comprises a holding section that holds a past detection result indicating whether or not an interfering-sound segment was detected, and when a change is made from a segment other than an interfering-sound segment to an interfering-sound segment, and that at a specific time period from the change, increases the instantaneous value of the coherence to a degree reflecting the interfering-sound average coherence value.

6. The audio signal processing device of claim 1, further comprising a spectral subtraction section that is disposed at an input side or output side of the voice switch gain multiplication section, and that performs noise suppression by subtracting non-target-sound signal components from an input signal to the spectral subtraction section.

7. The audio signal processing device of claim 1, further comprising a coherence filter computation section that is disposed at an input side or output side of the voice switch gain multiplication section, and that suppresses signal components that are offset from the arrival direction by multiplying each frequency of an input signal to the coherence filter computation section by a plurality of respective coefficients that are elements in deriving for each frequency the coherence using averaging processing of the plurality of coefficients.

8. The audio signal processing device of claim 1, further comprising a Weiner filter computation section that is disposed at an input side or output side of the voice switch gain multiplication section, and that eliminates noise by multiplying the input signal to the Weiner filter computation section by a coefficient obtained by estimating a noise characteristic for respective frequencies from a signal of a noise segment.

9. An audio signal processing method that suppresses noise components from input audio signals, the audio signal processing method comprising:

by a first directionality forming section, forming a first directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a first specific direction by performing delay-subtraction processing on an input audio signal;

by a second directionality forming section, forming a second directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a second specific direction different from the first specific direction by performing delay-subtraction processing on the input audio signal;

by a coherence computation section, calculating a coherence using the first and second directional signals;

by a target-sound segment detection section, comparing the coherence with a first determination threshold value, and determining whether the input audio signal is a segment of a target-sound arriving from a target direction, or a non-target-sound segment other than the target-sound segment;

by a target-sound segment determination threshold value controller, detecting based on the coherence an interfering-sound segment from among non-target-sound segments including both the interfering-sound segment and a background noise segment, obtaining an interfering-sound average coherence value representing an average coherence value in the interfering-sound segment, and controlling the first determination threshold value based on the interfering-sound average coherence value;

by a gain controller, setting a voice switch gain according to a determination result of the target-sound segment detection section; and

by a voice switch gain multiplication section, multiplying the input audio signal by the voice switch gain obtained by the gain controller.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer program instructions for audio signal processing stored thereon, execution of the computer program instructions by a computer causing the computer to provide functions of:

a first directionality forming section that by performing delay-subtraction processing on an input audio signal forms a first directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a first specific direction;

a second directionality forming section that by performing delay-subtraction processing on the input audio signal forms a second directional signal imparted with a directionality characteristic having a null in a second specific direction different from the first specific direction;

a coherence computation section that obtains a coherence using the first and second directional signals;

a target-sound segment detection section that by comparing the coherence with a first determination threshold value determines whether the input audio signal is a segment of a target-sound arriving from a target direction, or a non-target-sound segment other than the target-sound segment;

a target-sound segment determination threshold value controller that based on the coherence detects an interfering-sound segment from among non-target-sound segments including both the interfering-sound segment and a background noise segment, that obtains an interfering-sound average coherence value representing an average coherence value in the interfering-sound segment, and that controls the first determination threshold value based on the interfering-sound average coherence value;

a gain controller that sets a voice switch gain according to a determination result of the target-sound segment detection section; and

a voice switch gain multiplication section that multiplies the input audio signal by the voice switch gain obtained by the gain controller.