• ETRI Journal
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.366-375
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• 2016

This paper describes an algorithm to suppress composite noise in a two-microphone speech enhancement system for robust hands-free speech communication. The proposed algorithm has four stages. The first stage estimates the power spectral density of the residual stationary noise, which is based on the detection of nonstationary signal-dominant time-frequency bins (TFBs) at the generalized sidelobe canceller output. Second, speech-dominant TFBs are identified among the previously detected nonstationary signal-dominant TFBs, and power spectral densities of speech and residual nonstationary noise are estimated. In the final stage, the bin-wise output signal-to-noise ratio is obtained with these power estimates and a Wiener post-filter is constructed to attenuate the residual noise. Compared to the conventional beamforming and post-filter algorithms, the proposed speech enhancement algorithm shows significant performance improvement in terms of perceptual evaluation of speech quality.

• 한국정보통신학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국해양정보통신학회 2008년도 춘계종합학술대회 A
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• pp.784-788
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• 2008

In this research, we propose a remote speech input unit, a new method of user-friendly speech input in speech recognition system. We focused the user friendliness on hands-free and microphone independence in speech recognition applications. Our module adopts two algorithms, the automatic speech detection and speech enhancement based on the microphone array-based beamforming method. In the performance evaluation of speech detection, within-200msec accuracy with respect to the manually detected positions is about 97percent under the noise environments of 25dB of the SNR. The microphone array-based speech enhancement using the delay-and-sum beamforming algorithm shows about 6dB of maximum SNR gain over a single microphone and more than 12% of error reduction rate in speech recognition.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제36권5호
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• pp.772-782
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• 2014

Two-microphone binary mask speech enhancement (2mBMSE) has been of particular interest in recent literature and has shown promising results. Current 2mBMSE systems rely on spatial cues of speech and noise sources. Although these cues are helpful for directional noise sources, they lose their efficiency in diffuse noise fields. We propose a new system that is effective in both directional and diffuse noise conditions. The system exploits two features. The first determines whether a given time-frequency (T-F) unit of the input spectrum is dominated by a diffuse or directional source. A diffuse signal is certainly a noise signal, but a directional signal could correspond to a noise or speech source. The second feature discriminates between T-F units dominated by speech or directional noise signals. Speech enhancement is performed using a binary mask, calculated based on the proposed features. In both directional and diffuse noise fields, the proposed system segregates speech T-F units with hit rates above 85%. It outperforms previous solutions in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and perceptual evaluation of speech quality improvement, especially in diffuse noise conditions.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제17권2E호
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• pp.38-46
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• 1998

In this paper, we propose a remote speech input device, a new method of user-friendly speech input in spontaneous speech recognition system. We focus the user friendliness on hands-free and microphone independence in speech recognition applications. Our method adopts two algorithms, the automatic speech detection and the microphone array delay-and-sum beamforming (DSBF)-based speech enhancement. The automatic speech detection algorithm is composed of two stages; the detection of speech and nonspeech using the pitch information for the detected speech portion candidate. The DSBF algorithm adopts the time domain cross-correlation method as its time delay estimation. In the performance evaluation, the speech detection algorithm shows within-200 ms start point accuracy of 93%, 99% under 15dB, 20dB, and 25dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environments, respectively and those for the end point are 72%, 89%, and 93% for the corresponding environments, respectively. The classification of speech and nonspeech for the start point detected region of input signal is performed by the pitch information-base method. The percentages of correct classification for speech and nonspeech input are 99% and 90%, respectively. The eight microphone array-based speech enhancement using the DSBF algorithm shows the maximum SNR gaing of 6dB over a single microphone and the error reductin of more than 15% in the spontaneous speech recognition domain.

• 한국ITS학회 논문지
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.28-32
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• 2009

본 논문은 DFT기반의 단일마이크 음성향상 방식에 적용된 두 종류의 generalized-Gamma 분포기반의 음성추정 알고리즘을 비교한다. 음성향상 방식으로서는 최소잡음성분에 의한 회귀적인 평균스펙트럼 값으로부터 유도되는 잡음 추정을 각각 $\kappa$=1인 경우와 $\kappa$=2인 경우의 Gamma 분포를 이용한 음성추정 기법에 결합하여 음질을 향상시켰다. 각 방식에 의해 향상된 음성신호를 자동차 환경에서의 음성인식에 적용하여 그 성능을 비교하였다.

• 전자공학회논문지B
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• 제30B권10호
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• pp.35-41
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• 1993

In this paper, a new speech enhancement method for speech signal corrupted by environmental noise is proposed. Two signals are obtained from the microphone and from the accelerometer attached to the neck, respectively. Since two signals are generated from same source signal, both signals are closely correlated. And environmental noise has no effect on the accelerometer signal. The speech enhancement system identifies the optimum linear system between two signals on the basis of the dependence between the signals. The enhanced speech can be obtained by filtering the noise-free accelerometer signal. Since the characteristcs of the speech signal and environmental noise are changing with time, adaptive filtering system has to be used for characterizing the time-varing system. Simulation results show 7dB enhancement with 0dB speech signal level relative to the white noise.

• 방송공학회논문지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.9-16
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• 2004

본 논문에서는 차량용 음성명령어기의 사용을 위한 전처리 과정으로 음성개선 방법을 다룬다 특히 보다 주위 소음에 자유롭고 단말 조작에 있어 안정성을 보장하기 위하여 일반적 단일 마이크로폰으로 처리되는 잡음뿐만 아니라 음성명령어를 제외한 오디오 신호 등 비정적 통계적 특성을 갖는 소음들도 제거 될 수 있도록 음성개선 방법을 제안한다. 우리는 2개의 마이크로폰을 가지고 BSS 알고리즘을 적용하여 비정적 신호들을 분리하고, 분리된 신호에 대하여 Kalman 필터를 이용하여 시간상 단구간 정적 잡음을 제거한다. 인식 실험 결과를 통하여 공간적, 시간적 음성개선 방법이 순차적으로 적용될 때, 실제 차량 환경에서 음성 개선 알고리즘으로 적용될 수 있음을 보였다.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제1권3호
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• pp.95-102
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• 2009

In this paper, an efficient target speech detection algorithm is proposed for the performance improvement of multi-input speech enhancement. Using the normalized cross correlation value between two selected channels, the proposed algorithm estimates the probabilistic distribution function of the value from the pure noise interval. Then, log-likelihoods are calculated with the function and the normalized cross correlation value to detect the target speech interval precisely. The detection results are applied to the generalized sidelobe canceller-based algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm significantly improves the speech recognition performance and the signal-to-noise ratios.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.732-743
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• 2007

Background noise is one of the major complaints of not only hearing impaired persons but also normal listeners. This paper describes the results of two experiments in which speech recognition performance was determined for listeners with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss in noise environment. First, we compared speech enhancement algorithms by evaluation speech recognition ability in various speech-to-noise ratios and types of noise. Next, speech enhancement algorithms by reducing background noise were presented and evaluated to improve speech intelligibility for sensorineural hearing impairment listeners. We tested three noise reduction methods using single-microphone, such as spectrum subtraction and companding, Wiener filter method, and maximum likelihood envelop estimation. Their responses in background noise were investigated and compared with those by the speech enhancement algorithm that presented in this paper. The methods improved speech recognition test score for the sensorineural hearing impaired listeners, but not for normal listeners. The results suggest the speech enhancement algorithm with the loudness compression can improve speech intelligibility for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss.

• 한국음향학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.38-44
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• 1999

본 연구에서는 단일 채널 단구간 진폭 스펙트럼 추정 기법의 하나인 Spectral Subtraction 방법과 2 채널 Griffiths-Jim Beamformer를 결합한 음성 강조기법을 제안한다. 기존의 단구간 진폭 스펙트럼 추정 기법에서는 관측된 신호의 스펙트럼에서 잡음의 평균 스펙트럼을 감산하여 잡음을 제거하고 있지만, 이 방법을 이용하여 잡음을 제거 할 경우에는 잡음 변동시 잡음 억제 능력이 미약하고, 목적 신호의 단구간 진폭 스펙트럼 추정 성능이 낮아진다는 단점을 갖고 있다. 그 이유는 실제 잡음의 스펙트럼은 평균값 주위에 분산되어 있기 때문이 다. 그러므로, 2 채널 Beamformer의 사각(Blocking Matrix)를 이용하여 분석 구간에서의 잡음의 단구간 진폭 스펙트럼을 추정하고, 이 추정된 값을 이용하여 목적 신호의 스펙트럼을 추정하는 기법을 제안하고, 컴퓨터 시뮬레이션을 통하여 그 유효성을 입증한다.