Quality improvement of LPC-processed noisy speech by using spectral subtraction

Abstract

Numerous noise-suppression techniques have been developed for operating at the front end of low-bit-rate digital voice terminals. Some of these techniques have been evaluated by standardized intelligibility tests such as the diagnostic rhyme test (DRT). It is well known that the use of a noise suppressor seldom improves the DRT score even though listeners have had the impression that speech quality was enhanced. Unfortunately, noise suppressors have only occasionally been evaluated by standardized quality tests. The authors supplement quality test data for reference purposes. They use the diagnostic acceptability measure (DAM) to evaluate speech quality of the latest 2400-b/s linear-predictive coder (LPC) with a noise suppressor at the front end. They used a spectral subtraction technique for noise suppression. Ten different sets of noisy speech recorded at actual military platforms (such as a helicopter, tank, turboprop, helicopter carrier, or jeep) were input sources. The magnitude of the DAM improvement is substantial: as much as six points on the average, which is large enough to upgrade speech quality somewhat.