White noise

About: White noise is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 16496 publications have been published within this topic receiving 318633 citations.

Maximum-likelihood array processing in non-Gaussian noise with Gaussian mixtures

Abstract: Many approaches have been studied for the array processing problem when the additive noise is modeled with a Gaussian distribution, but these schemes typically perform poorly when the noise is non-Gaussian and/or impulsive. This paper is concerned with maximum likelihood array processing in non-Gaussian noise. We present the Cramer-Rao bound on the variance of angle-of-arrival estimates for arbitrary additive, independent, identically distributed (iid), symmetric, non-Gaussian noise. Then, we focus on non-Gaussian noise modeling with a finite Gaussian mixture distribution, which is capable of representing a broad class of non-Gaussian distributions that include heavy tailed, impulsive cases arising in wireless communications and other applications. Based on the Gaussian mixture model, we develop an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for estimating the source locations, the signal waveforms, and the noise distribution parameters. The important problems of detecting the number of sources and obtaining initial parameter estimates for the iterative EM algorithm are discussed in detail. The initialization procedure by itself is an effective algorithm for array processing in impulsive noise. Novel features of the EM algorithm and the associated maximum likelihood formulation include a nonlinear beamformer that separates multiple source signals in non-Gaussian noise and a robust covariance matrix estimate that suppresses impulsive noise while also performing a model-based interpolation to restore the low-rank signal subspace. The EM approach yields improvement over initial robust estimates and is valid for a wide SNR range. The results are also robust to PDF model mismatch and work well with infinite variance cases such as the symmetric stable distributions. Simulations confirm the optimality of the EM estimation procedure in a variety of cases, including a multiuser communications scenario. We also compare with existing array processing algorithms for non-Gaussian noise.

Blind estimation of reverberation time.

Abstract: The reverberation time (RT) is an important parameter for characterizing the quality of an auditory space. Sounds in reverberant environments are subject to coloration. This affects speech intelligibility and sound localization. Many state-of-the-art audio signal processing algorithms, for example in hearing-aids and telephony, are expected to have the ability to characterize the listening environment, and turn on an appropriate processing strategy accordingly. Thus, a method for characterization of room RT based on passively received microphone signals represents an important enabling technology. Current RT estimators, such as Schroeder’s method, depend on a controlled sound source, and thus cannot produce an online, blind RT estimate. Here, a method for estimating RT without prior knowledge of sound sources or room geometry is presented. The diffusive tail of reverberation was modeled as an exponentially damped Gaussian white noise process. The time-constant of the decay, which provided a measure of the RT, was estimated using a maximum-likelihood procedure. The estimates were obtained continuously, and an order-statistics filter was used to extract the most likely RT from the accumulated estimates. The procedure was illustrated for connected speech. Results obtained for simulated and real room data are in good agreement with the real RT values.

A Blind Approach to the Hammerstein-Wiener Model Identification

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a blind approach to the sampled Hammerstein-Wiener model identification. By using the blind approach, it is shown that all internal variables can be recovered solely based on the output measurements. Then, identification of linear and nonlinear parts can be carried out. No a priori structural knowledge about the input nonlinearity is assumed and no white noise assumption is imposed on the input.