Noise estimating apparatus and method

1. A noise estimating apparatus for estimating two types of noise spectra for removing a noise component using the two types of noise spectra, the apparatus comprising:

an A/D converter that converts an input speech signal to a digital signal;

a Fourier transformer that performs a discrete Fourier transform on the digital signal having a predetermined time length obtained by the A/D converter to obtain an input spectrum and a complex spectrum;

a noise spectrum storage device that stores the two types of noise spectra including a mean noise spectrum for use in noise cancellation processing and a compensation noise spectrum for compensating for a spectrum of an over-reduced frequency in the noise cancellation processing;

a noise estimator that estimates a new compensation noise spectrum and a new mean noise spectrum as new two types of noise spectra, the new compensation noise spectrum being obtained by comparing the input spectrum obtained by the Fourier transformer with the compensation noise spectrum stored in the noise spectrum storage device, the new mean noise spectrum being obtained by using the input spectrum obtained by the Fourier transformer in a learning algorithm, and stores the new two types of spectra in the noise spectrum storage device.

2. A noise estimating apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the noise estimator determines if it is a noise segment in advance; compares the input spectrum obtained by the Fourier transformer with the noise spectrum for compensation for each frequency when it is determined as noise; sets the noise spectrum for compensation of an associated frequency as a new input spectrum thereby estimating the compensation noise spectrum, when the input spectrum is smaller than the new noise spectrum for compensation; separately from the estimation of the compensation noise spectrum, estimates the new mean noise spectrum by the learning algorithm adding the input spectrum at a given ratio; and further stores the obtained new compensation noise spectrum and the new mean noise spectrum in the noise spectrum storage device.

3. A noise estimating method for estimating two types of noise spectra for removing a noise component using the two types of noise spectra, the method comprising:

A/D converting an input speech signal to a digital signal;

performing a discrete Fourier transform on the digital signal having a predetermined time length obtained by the A/D converting to obtain an input spectrum and a complex spectrum;

storing, in a noise spectrum storage device, the two types of noise spectra including a mean noise spectrum for use in noise cancellation processing and a compensation noise spectrum for compensating for a spectrum of an over-reduced frequency in the noise cancellation processing; and

estimating a new compensation noise spectrum and a new mean noise spectrum as new two types of noise spectra, the new compensation noise spectrum being obtained by comparing the input spectrum obtained by the Fourier transformation step with the compensation noise spectrum stored in the noise spectrum storage device, the new mean noise spectrum being obtained by using the input spectrum obtained by the Fourier transformation step in a learning algorithm, and stores the new two types of noise spectra in the noise spectrum storage device.