Sibilance Detection and Mitigation in Voice Signals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Excessive sibilance in voice signals degrades the quality of voice communication, causing unnatural harshness and unpleasant user experiences due to various factors such as low-quality electroacoustic devices, over-boosting of frequencies, incorrect compression, and sibilant voice styles.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for sibilance detection and mitigation that extract predetermined spectrum features from voice signals, identify excessive sibilance based on energy distribution, and process the signals to suppress excessive sibilance using adaptive suppression techniques, such as adjusting suppression amounts and thresholds based on perceptual-related measures like SRLR and SSPM.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If frequency boosting is applied to enhance voice clarity, then voice signal quality is improved, but excessive sibilance occurs causing unnatural harshness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different processing to different frequency regions by identifying sibilance in specific high-frequency bands (4-10 KHz) and applying suppression only to those regions while preserving other frequency components, thus maintaining voice clarity while reducing harsh sibilant sounds
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts suppression parameters (suppression amount, frequency thresholds) based on real-time analysis of spectrum features and perceptual measures (SRLR, SSPM) to adaptively control sibilance reduction while preserving natural voice quality
2Object-generated harmful factors
If aggressive sibilance suppression is applied to reduce harshness, then excessive sibilance is reduced, but natural sibilant sounds are also suppressed degrading voice quality
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial suppression by using adaptive suppression amounts that are adjusted based on the severity of sibilance detected through spectrum analysis and perceptual measures, applying only the necessary amount of suppression to reduce excessive sibilance while preserving natural sibilant components
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from real-time analysis of spectrum features and perceptual-related measures (SRLR, SSPM) to dynamically adjust suppression parameters, ensuring that suppression is applied only when and where excessive sibilance is present while preserving natural voice characteristics
3Object-generated harmful factors
If spectrum processing is applied to identify and suppress sibilance, then sibilance reduction is achieved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the voice signal processing into distinct stages: spectrum feature extraction, sibilance identification based on energy distribution, evaluation using perceptual measures (SRLR, SSPM), and adaptive suppression, allowing each stage to focus on specific tasks and be optimized independently
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to sibilance detection and mitigation in a voice signal. A method of sibilance detection and mitigation is described. In the method, a predetermined spectrum feature is extracted from a voice signal, the predetermined spectrum feature representing a distribution of signal energy over a voice frequency band. Sibilance is then identified based on the predetermined spectrum feature. Excessive sibilance is further identified from the identified sibilance based on a level of the identified sibilance. Then the voice signal is processed by decreasing a level of the excessive sibilance so as to suppress the excessive sibilance. Corresponding system and computer program products are described as well.