- Research Article
- Open access
- Published:
Dual-Channel Speech Enhancement by Superdirective Beamforming
EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing volume 2006, Article number: 063297 (2006)
Abstract
In this contribution, a dual-channel input-output speech enhancement system is introduced. The proposed algorithm is an adaptation of the well-known superdirective beamformer including postfiltering to the binaural application. In contrast to conventional beamformer processing, the proposed system outputs enhanced stereo signals while preserving the important interaural amplitude and phase differences of the original signal. Instrumental performance evaluations in a real environment with multiple speech sources indicate that the proposed computational efficient spectral weighting system can achieve significant attenuation of speech interferers while maintaining a high speech quality of the target signal.
References
Bitzer J, Simmer KU: Superdirective microphone arrays. In Microphone Arrays: Signal Processing Techniques and Applications. Edited by: Brandstein MS, Ward DB. Springer, Berlin, Germany; 2001:19–38. chapter 2
Gilbert EN, Morgan SP: Optimum design of directive antenna arrays subject to random variations. Bell System Technical Journal 1955, 34: 637–663.
Dörbecker M: Mehrkanalige Signalverarbeitung zur Verbesserung akustisch gestörter Sprachsignale am Beispiel elektronischer Hörhilfen, M.S. thesis. Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Aachen, Germany; 1998.
Doclo S, Moonen M: Design of broadband beamformers robust against gain and phase errors in the microphone array characteristics. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing 2003, 51(10):2511–2526. 10.1109/TSP.2003.816885
Tager W: Near field superdirectivity (NFSD). Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP '98), May 1998, Seattle, Wash, USA 4: 2045–2048.
Griffiths LJ, Jim CW: An alternative approach to linearly constrained adaptive beamforming. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 1982, 30(1):27–34. 10.1109/TAP.1982.1142739
Hoshuyama O, Sugiyama A: Robust adaptive beamforming. In Microphone Arrays. Edited by: Brandstein MS, Ward DB. Springer, Berlin, Germany; 2001:87–110.
Herbordt W, Kellermann W: Adaptive beamforming for audio signal acquisition. In Adaptive Signal Processing—Applications to Real-World Problems. Edited by: Benesty J, Huang Y. Springer, Berlin, Germany; 2003:155–194.
Desloge JG, Rabinowitz WM, Zurek PM: Microphone-array hearing aids with binaural output. I. Fixed-processing systems. IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing 1997, 5(6):529–542. 10.1109/89.641298
Elko GW: Spatial coherence functions for differential microphones in isotropic noise fields. In Microphone Arrays: Signal Processing Techniques and Applications. Edited by: Brandstein MS, Ward DB. Springer, Berlin, Germany; 2001:61–86. chapter 4
Hamacher V: Comparison of advanced monaural and binaural noise reduction algorithms for hearing aids. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP '02), May 2002, Orlando, Fla, USA 4: 4008–4011.
Hohmann V, Nix J, Grimm G, Wittkop T: Binaural noise reduction for hearing aids. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP '02), May 2002, Orlando, Fla, USA 4: 4000–4003.
Wittkop T, Albani S, Hohmann V, Peissig J, Woods WS, Kollmeier B: Speech processing for hearing aids: noise reduction motivated by models of binaural interaction. Acustica United with Acta Acustica 1997, 83(4):684–699.
Campbell DR, Shields PW: Speech enhancement using sub-band adaptive Griffiths–Jim signal processing. Speech Communication 2003, 39(1–2):97–110. Special issue on speech processing for hearing aids 10.1016/S0167-6393(02)00061-4
Welker DP, Greenberg JE, Desloge JG, Zurek PM: Microphone-array hearing aids with binaural output. II. A two-microphone adaptive system. IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing 1997, 5(6):543–551. 10.1109/89.641299
Lotter T: Single and multimicrophone speech enhancement for hearing aids, M.S. thesis. Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Aachen, Germany; 2004.
Blauert J: Spatial Hearing: The Psychophysics of Human Sound Localization. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, USA; 1983.
Gardner B, Martin K: HRTF measurement of a KEMAR dummy-head microphone. In Tech. Rep. 280. MIT Media Laboratory Perceptual Computing, Davos, Switzerland; May 1994. https://doi.org/sound.media.mit.edu/KEMAR.html
Brown CP, Duda RO: A structural model for binaural sound synthesis. IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing 1998, 6(5):476–488. 10.1109/89.709673
Monzingo RA, Miller TW: Introduction to Adaptive Arrays. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, USA; 1980.
Simmer KU, Bitzer J, Marro C: Post-filtering techniques. In Microphone Arrays: Signal Processing Techniques and Applications. Edited by: Brandstein MS, Ward DB. Springer, Berlin, Germany; 2001:39–60. chapter 3
Zelinski R: A microphone array with adaptive post-filtering for noise reduction in reverberant rooms. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP '88), April 1988, New York, NY, USA 5: 2578–2581.
Marro C, Mahieux Y, Simmer KU: Analysis of noise reduction and dereverberation techniques based on microphone arrays with postfiltering. IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing 1998, 6(3):240–259. 10.1109/89.668818
ANSI S3.5-1997 American National Standards Institute : Methods for Calculation of the Speech Intelligibility Index. ANSI S3.5–1997, 1997.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Lotter, T., Vary, P. Dual-Channel Speech Enhancement by Superdirective Beamforming. EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process. 2006, 063297 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1155/ASP/2006/63297
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/ASP/2006/63297