Method and apparatus for identifying a feedback frequency in a signal

1. A method for identifying a feedback frequency, the method comprising:

determining a magnitude of a first instance of a first dominant spectral component in a first frequency band in a wide-band span of frequencies of a signal;

determining a magnitude of a second instance of the first dominant spectral component in a second frequency band having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the first frequency band in a mid-band span of frequencies of the signal, the mid-band span of frequencies at least within the wide-band span;

determining a magnitude of a third instance of the first dominant spectral component in a third frequency band having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the second frequency band in a narrow-band span of frequencies of the signal, the narrow-band span of frequencies at least within the mid-band span; and

analyzing the magnitude and frequency of the first, second, and third instances of the first dominant spectral component to determine the presence of feedback characteristics in the signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a first phase and second phase of the magnitudes of each band span of frequencies in the signal; and

calculating a magnitude and a phase difference between the band spans.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the wide-band span of frequencies comprises 20,000 Hz subdivided into 25 frequency bins of 800 Hz each such that the frequency range of 20,000 Hz corresponds to the human aural frequency range and the determining the first instance of the first dominant spectral component further comprises determining the frequency bin in the wide-band span having the first dominant spectral component.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the mid-band span of frequencies comprises 5000 Hz subdivided into 25 frequency bins of 200 Hz each, such that the center frequency of mid-band span is the frequency of the first dominant spectral component and the determining the second instance of the first dominant spectral component further comprises determining the frequency bin in the mid-band span having the first dominant spectral component.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the narrow-band span of frequencies comprises 400 Hz subdivided into 25 frequency bins of 16 Hz each, such that the center frequency of narrow-band span is the frequency of the second dominant spectral component and the determining the third instance of the first dominant spectral component further comprises determining the frequency bin in the narrow-band span having the first dominant spectral component.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reiterating the determining of the dominant spectral component for continuous analysis of an audio signal over time.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising suppressing the feedback after a feedback frequency is identified from the analysis of the first, second, and third instances of the first dominant spectral component.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the suppressing further comprises deploying a notch filter having a center frequency at the identified feedback frequency.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the first, second, and third instances of the first dominant spectral component further comprises identifying the dominant spectral component by using a Goertzel algorithm.

10. An electronic circuit for identifying a feedback frequency in an audio signal, the electronic circuit comprising:

a feedback control block operable to determine a candidate frequency having potential feedback, the feedback control block further operable to:

determine a magnitude of a first instance of a first dominant spectral component in a first band of frequencies of the audio signal, the first band having a plurality of wide-band groupings of frequencies;

determine a magnitude of a second instance of the first dominant spectral component in a second band of frequencies having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the first band of frequencies of the audio signal, the second band of frequencies at least within the first band of frequencies and the second band having a plurality of mid-band groupings of frequencies wherein each band in the mid-band span is smaller than the each band in the wide-band span;

determine a magnitude of a third instance of the first dominant spectral component in a third band of frequencies of the audio signal, the third band of frequencies having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the second band of frequencies at least within the second band of frequencies and the second band having a plurality of narrow-band groupings of frequencies wherein each band in the narrow-band span is smaller than the each band in the wide-band span; and

analyze the magnitude and frequency of the first, second, and third instances of the first dominant spectral component to determine the presence of feedback characteristics in the audio signal; and

a filter block operable to deploy a filter at the candidate frequency if the feedback control block determines that the candidate frequency is a feedback frequency.

11. The electronic circuit of claim 10 , further comprising a user interface embodied in a computer platform and having software-enabled control features such that a user may control the feedback control block via the software executing on the computer platform.

12. The electronic circuit of claim 11 wherein the user interface further comprises a user-controllable sensitivity setting operable to control parameters of the analysis of the magnitudes at the candidate frequency.

13. The electronic circuit of claim 11 wherein the user interface further comprises a force filter parameter that, when set, deploys the filter after determining the candidate frequency and without analysis.

14. The electronic circuit of claim 11 wherein the user interface further comprises settings for analyzing the growth characteristics of the magnitudes of the first dominant spectral component, the settings including a setting for maximum decay time, minimum decay time, magnitude drop, and magnitude growth count.

15. The electronic circuit of claim 10 , further comprising an analog-to-digital converter for converting the audio signal from analog to digital prior to the feedback control block and a digital-to-analog converter for converting the audio signal from digital to analog after the feedback control block.

16. The electronic circuit of claim 10 wherein the filter block further comprises:

a test filter block for deploying a test filter when the candidate frequency is identified; and

a permanent filter block for deploying a permanent filter if it is determined that the candidate frequency is a feedback frequency.

17. The electronic circuit of claim 16 wherein the permanent filter block further comprises a digital filter within a block of digital filters, each of which are operable to be deployed simultaneously across several frequencies as determined by the feedback control block.

18. A system for controlling feedback in audio signals, the system comprising:

a pre-amplifier operable to amplify a weak analog audio signal;

an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the preamplifier and operable to convert the pre-amplified analog audio signal into a digital audio signal;

a feedback suppression circuit coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, the feedback suppression circuit including:

a feedback control block operable to determine a candidate frequency having potential feedback, the feedback control block further operable to:

determine a magnitude of a first instance of a first dominant spectral component in a first band of frequencies of the audio signal, the first band having a plurality of wide-band groupings of frequencies;

determine a magnitude of a second instance of the first dominant spectral component in a second band of frequencies of the audio signal, the second band of frequencies having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the first band of frequencies and at least within the first band of frequencies and the second band having a plurality of mid-band groupings of frequencies wherein each band in the mid-band span is smaller than the each band in the wide-band span;

determine a magnitude of a third instance of the first dominant spectral component in a third band of frequencies having a center frequency corresponding to the largest magnitude in the second band of frequencies of the audio signal, the third band of frequencies at least within the second band of frequencies and the second band having a plurality of narrow-band groupings of frequencies wherein each band in the narrow-band span is smaller than the each band in the wide-band span; and

analyze the magnitude and frequency of the first, second, and third instances of the first dominant spectral components to determine the presence of feedback characteristics in the audio signal;

a digital-to-analog converter coupled to the feedback suppression circuit and operable to convert the digital audio signal into an analog audio signal; and

an amplifier coupled to the digital-to-analog signal converter and operable to amplify the analog audio signal.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising a computing environment for realizing the feedback suppression circuit and coupled to a user interface operable to control the feedback suppression circuit.

20. The system of claim 18 , further comprising a microphone for inputting acoustic sound waves into weak analog signals for pre-amplification and a speaker for outputting amplified audio signals into acoustic sound waves.