Noise dependent signal processing for in-car communication systems with multiple acoustic zones

• US 9,502,050 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2012
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerence Inc., Cerence Operating Company (Cerence Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Buck, Markus, Herbig, Tobias, Pfeffinger, Meik
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US14/406,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127351A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,427 Days
• Field of Search: 704/225
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02166 Microphone arrays; Beamforming
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/03646 Stress or Lombard effect
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/02 Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/00 Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• 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: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

A speech communication system includes a speech service compartment for holding one or more system users. The speech service compartment includes a plurality of acoustic zones having varying acoustic environments. At least one input microphone is located within the speech service compartment, for developing microphone input signals from the one or more system users. At least one loudspeaker is located within the service compartment. An in-car communication (ICC) system receives and processes the microphone input signals, forming loudspeaker output signals that are provided to one or more of the at least one output loudspeakers. The ICC system includes at least one of a speaker dedicated signal processing module and a listener specific signal processing module, that controls the processing of the microphone input signal and/or forming of the loudspeaker output signal based, at least in part, on at least one of an associated acoustic environment(s) and resulting psychoacoustic effect(s).

Claims

1. An ICC system for a passenger compartment having acoustic zones, comprising:

a speaker dedicated module to receive first signals from a first microphone in a first one of the acoustic zones, wherein the first signals correspond to speech from a first user in the first one of the acoustic zones, wherein the first module is configured to maximize the speech from the first user and minimize signals not generated by the speech from the first user, wherein the speaker dedicated module is further configured to compensate for the Lombard effect based upon a target peak level for the speech from the first user corresponding to a level of background noise in the first one of the acoustic zones; and

a listener specific module to optimize a first output signal, which comprises the speech from the first user, for a first loudspeaker in a second one of the acoustic zones including adjusting a volume of sound from the first loudspeaker based upon a noise estimate for the second one of the acoustic zones.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the passenger compartment comprises one of an automobile, a boat, and a plane.

3. The speech communication system according to claim 1, wherein the ICC system includes a deesser that processes the microphone input signal based, at least in part, on the acoustic environment.

4. The speech communication system according to claim 1, wherein the ICC system includes a noise dependent gain control (NGDC), wherein the NGDC includes a limiter module that uses noise specific characteristics in the acoustic environment(s) to process peaks individually in each loudspeaker output signal.

5. A computer-implemented method using one or more computer processes for an ICC system for a passenger compartment having acoustic zones, the method comprising:

receiving at a speaker dedicated module first signals from a first microphone in a first one of the acoustic zones, wherein the first signals correspond to speech from a first user in the first one of the acoustic zones;

maximizing the speech from the first user and minimizing signals not generated by the speech from the first user;

compensating for the Lombard effect based upon a target peak level for the speech from the first user corresponding to a level of background noise in the first one of the acoustic zones; and

optimizing, at a listener specific module, a first output signal, which comprises the speech from the first user, for a first loudspeaker in a second one of the acoustic zones including adjusting a volume of sound from the first loudspeaker based upon a noise estimate for the second one of the acoustic zones.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the passenger compartment comprises one of an automobile, a boat, and a plane.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising de-essing, by the speaker dedicated signal processing module, the microphone input signal based, at least in part, on the acoustic environment.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein de-essing includes scaling the aggressiveness of de-essing based on an expected noise masking effect.

9. The method according to claim 5, further comprising providing a Noise Dependent Gain Control (NDGC) having adjustable gain characteristics that vary based on background noise levels.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the NGDC includes a limiter module, the method further including, using, by the limiter module, noise specific characteristics in the associated acoustic environment(s) to process peaks individually in each loudspeaker output signal.

11. The method according to claim 5, further including processing the microphone input signals and/or forming the loudspeaker output signals based, at least in part, on a determined masking effect of background noise in the acoustic environment(s).

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising performing increased noise reduction when the passenger compartment is moving at a high speed, compared to when the passenger compartment is moving at a low speed.

13. The method according to claim 5, further comprising utilizing a plurality of parameter sets in performing equalization on at least one of the microphone input signals and/or loudspeaker output signals.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein one or more of the parameter sets are trained offline depending on the driving situation.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising utilizing at least one of acoustic sensor-driven sensor information and non-acoustic vehicle provided signals in determining the parameter sets.

16. A computer program product encoded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium for speech communication, the product comprising:

program code for

receiving at a speaker dedicated module first signals from a first microphone in a first one of the acoustic zones, wherein the first signals correspond to speech from a first user in the first one of the acoustic zones;

maximizing the speech from the first user and minimizing signals not generated by the speech from the first user;

compensating for the Lombard effect based upon a target peak level for the speech from the first user corresponding to a level of background noise in the first one of the acoustic zones; and

optimizing, at a listener specific module, a first output signal, which comprises the speech from the first user, for a first loudspeaker in a second one of the acoustic zones including adjusting a volume of sound from the first loudspeaker based upon a noise estimate for the second one of the acoustic zones.