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http://dx.doi.org/10.5909/JBE.2013.18.6.919

Speech Quality Estimation Algorithm using a Harmonic Modeling of Reverberant Signals  

Yang, Jae-Mo (Department of Eengineering, Yonsei Univ.)
Kang, Hong-Goo (Department of Eengineering, Yonsei Univ.)
Publication Information
Journal of Broadcast Engineering / v.18, no.6, 2013 , pp. 919-926 More about this Journal
Abstract
The acoustic signal from a distance sound source in an enclosed space often produces reverberant sound that varies depending on room impulse response. The estimation of the level of reverberation or the quality of the observed signal is important because it provides valuable information on the condition of system operating environment. It is also useful for designing a dereverberation system. This paper proposes a speech quality estimation method based on the harmonicity of received signal, a unique characteristic of voiced speech. At first, we show that the harmonic signal modeling to a reverberant signal is reasonable. Then, the ratio between the harmonically modeled signal and the estimated non-harmonic signal is used as a measure of standard room acoustical parameter, which is related to speech clarity. Experimental results show that the proposed method successfully estimates speech quality when the reverberation time varies from 0.2s to 1.0s. Finally, we confirm the superiority of the proposed method in both background noise and reverberant environments.
Keywords
Reverberation time; room acoustical parameter; speech intelligibility; harmonic modeling;
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