Speech enhancement based on a priori signal to noise estimation

TLDR

This paper addresses single‑microphone frequency‑domain speech enhancement in noisy environments and reviews key characteristics of existing noise‑reduction algorithms. The authors aim to develop a new method that balances effective noise reduction with low computational load for real‑time operations. They base this method on a priori SNR estimation to achieve the trade‑off. Subjective and objective evaluations show that the new method outperforms existing techniques, with the a priori SNR estimation yielding the best subjective results.

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of single microphone frequency domain speech enhancement in noisy environments. The main characteristics of available frequency domain noise reduction algorithms are presented. We have confirmed that the a priori SNR estimation leads to the best subjective results. According to these conclusions, a new approach is then developed which achieves a trade-off between effective noise reduction and low computational load for real-time operations. The obtained solutions demonstrate that the subjective and objective results are much better than existing methods.