Robert Johannes Sluijter

Speech enhancement via frequency bandwidth extension using line spectral frequencies

This paper contributes to narrowband speech enhancement by means of frequency bandwidth extension. A new algorithm is proposed for generating synthetic frequency components in the high-band (i.e., 4-8 kHz) given the low-band ones (i.e., 0-4 kHz) for wide-band speech synthesis. It is based on linear prediction (LPC) analysis-synthesis. It consists of a spectral envelope extension using efficiently line spectral frequencies (LSF) and a bandwidth extension of the LPC analysis residual using a spectral folding. The low-band LSF of the synthesis signal are obtained from the input speech signal and the high-band LSF are estimated from the low-band ones using statistical models. This estimation is achieved by means of four models that are distinguished by means of the first two reflection coefficients obtained from the input signal linear prediction analysis.

Hi-BIN: an alternative approach to wideband speech coding

In this paper, an encoding technique called Hi-BIN (High Band Injection), which can be combined with any narrowband coder to achieve good quality wideband speech, is described. The principle behind this technique is to model frequencies above 4 kHz by noise with an appropriate spectral shape. This simple way of injecting synthetic noise in the higher frequencies gives surprisingly good quality when compared to very widely used computationally intensive waveform coding techniques such as CELP. We show that Hi-BIN offers a low bit-rate representation of the higher band and is backwards compatible with existing narrowband speech coding systems.

Speech compression using pitch synchronous interpolation

This paper presents a new time-domain algorithm for compressing speech signals. Using a novel tool which we will refer to as time weighted average (TWA), a periodically extendable pitch cycle is extracted from the voiced regions in the speech signal. This procedure is carried out every x/sup th/ pitch period. The discarded x-1 pitch periods are recovered using pitch synchronous interpolation (PSI). The computational complexity of the resulting decoder is surprisingly modest and shows reasonable potential of implementation on hardware as primitive as the Intel 8088 /spl mu/-processor. Simulation results show that the reconstruction quality is comparable to G.721.

State of the art and trends in speech coding

An introductory review of some basic speech coding techniques covers the most important properties of speech production and hearing, the ubiquitous techniques of quantization and linear prediction, and a recital of the most important measures of coding performance. In the survey that follows, several standardized speech coding systems reflecting the state of the art in speech coding are discussed in terms of coding method, bit rate, performance, complexity and typical application areas. Major future trends are indicated on the basis of expected future standards. The paper, which primarily deals with narrowband speech coding systems, is concluded by a review of the state of affairs and an outline of the future trends in the area of wideband speech coding.

Transmission system with speech encoder with improved pitch detection

A transmission system contains a speech coder which utilizes a pitch detector that is arranged to select a characteristic auxiliary signal portion from the signal to be coded in order to improve the quality of the pitch detection. The pitch is found by searching in the speech signal for signal portions that correspond to the characteristics auxiliary signal portion and by calculating the time difference between the respective signal portions.