Voice signal enhancement
First Claim
1. A method of discriminating relative to a voice signal, the method comprising:
- receiving, via one or more audible sensors, an audible signal including a target voice signal;
converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of wideband time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of wide sub-bands;
calculating one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units;
calculating a gain function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units;
converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of narrowband time-frequency units;
applying the gain function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of narrowband time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units;
converting the plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and
outputting the corrected audible signal through an output device.
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Abstract
Implementations include systems, methods and/or devices operable to enhance the intelligibility of a target speech signal by targeted voice model based processing of a noisy audible signal. In some implementations, an amplitude-independent voice proximity function voice model is used to attenuate signal components of a noisy audible signal that are unlikely to be associated with the target speech signal and/or accentuate the target speech signal. In some implementations, the target speech signal is identified as a near-field signal, which is detected by identifying a prominent train of glottal pulses in the noisy audible signal. Subsequently, in some implementations systems, methods and/or devices perform a form of computational auditory scene analysis by converting the noisy audible signal into a set of narrowband time-frequency units, and selectively accentuating the time-frequency units associated with the target speech signal and deemphasizing others using information derived from the identification of the glottal pulse train.
32 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of discriminating relative to a voice signal, the method comprising:
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receiving, via one or more audible sensors, an audible signal including a target voice signal; converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of wideband time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of wide sub-bands; calculating one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; calculating a gain function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of narrowband time-frequency units; applying the gain function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of narrowband time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units; converting the plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and outputting the corrected audible signal through an output device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of discriminating against far field audible components, the method comprising:
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receiving, via one or more audible sensors, an audible signal including a target voice signal; converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sub-bands; calculating one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of time-frequency units associated with near field audible components; calculating a discriminating function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; applying the discriminating function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of corrected time-frequency units; converting the plurality of corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and outputting the corrected audible signal through an output device.
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12. A voice signal enhancement device to discriminate relative to a voice signal, the device comprising:
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one or more audio sensors configured to receive and audible signal including a target voice signal; a first conversion module configured to convert the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of wideband time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of wide sub-bands; a second conversion module configured to convert the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of narrowband time-frequency units; a metric calculator configured to calculate one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; a gain calculator configured to calculate a gain function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; a filtering module configured to apply the gain function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of narrowband time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units; a third conversion module configured to convert the plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and an output device configured to output the corrected audible signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A voice signal enhancement device to discriminate relative to a voice signal, the device comprising:
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means for receiving an audible signal including a target voice signal; means for converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of wideband time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of wide sub-bands; means for converting the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of narrowband time-frequency units; means for calculating one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; means for calculating gain function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; means for applying the gain function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of narrowband time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units; means for converting the plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and means for outputting the corrected audible signal.
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20. A voice signal enhancement device to discriminate relative to a voice signal, the device comprising:
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one or more audio sensors configured to receive and audible signal including a target voice signal; a processor; a memory including instructions, that when executed by the processor cause the device to; convert an audible signal into a corresponding plurality of wideband time-frequency units, wherein the time dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of sequential intervals, and wherein the frequency dimension of each time-frequency unit includes at least one of a plurality of wide sub-bands; convert the audible signal into a corresponding plurality of narrowband time-frequency units; calculate one or more characterizing metrics from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; calculate gain function from one or more characterizing metrics calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units; apply the gain function, calculated from the plurality of wideband time-frequency units, to the plurality of narrowband time-frequency units to produce a corresponding plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units; convert the plurality of narrowband gain-corrected time-frequency units into a corrected audible signal, wherein the corrected audible signal includes an improved target voice signal relative to the received audible signal; and output the corrected audible signal through an output device.
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Specification