• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.210-216
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• 2013

It is hard to listen to the music clearly in the presence of background noise. In this paper, a method that modifies the audio signal automatically to enhance the audio listening experience in adverse environment is proposed. Specifically, the method that amplifies the audio signal so that the perceived loudness of audio signal in each band becomes similar to that of the noiseless signal. The loudness perception model proposed by Moore et. al is utilized. Extending the previous work that is applied to speech reinforcement, the full band signal sampled at 48kHz is manipulated based on the loudness restoration principle. Moreover, based on the observation that the audio clarity is compromised even with loudness restored signal, a modification that intentionally boosts high frequency loudness more than lower band is also proposed. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm can enhance the audio listening experience in adverse environment.