Noise reduction system with remote noise detector

1. A noise reduction apparatus for reducing at least one of background noise and interference during reception of an audio signal, said noise reduction apparatus comprising:

a wireless receiver for receiving a noise estimate, wherein the received noise estimate is power spectral density of a noise or interference remotely detected and wirelessly transmitted by at least one remote noise detector to the wireless receiver, and wherein the power spectral density is transmitted at a reduced spectral resolution in order to reduce a transmission bandwidth between the at least one remote noise detector and the wireless receiver;

a noise reduction processor coupled to the wireless receiver; and

an acoustic signal receiver, coupled to the noise reduction processor, for receiving an acoustic signal from a primary acoustic source;

wherein the noise reduction processor is configured for reducing or cancelling a noise component in said received acoustic signal based on said received noise estimate.

2. The noise reduction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said acoustic signal receiver comprises a first microphone adapted to receive said acoustic signal from said primary acoustic source.

3. The noise reduction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said noise reduction processor comprises a level adjustment unit for compensating a level difference between said received noise estimates and said noise component in said received acoustic signal based on a speech model on a frame-by-frame basis.

4. The noise reduction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said noise reduction processor comprises a path estimation unit for estimating an acoustic path between said remote noise detector and said acoustic signal receiver.

5. The noise reduction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said noise reduction processor comprises a speech enhancement unit for exploiting said received noise estimate by a single-channel speech enhancement algorithm.

6. The noise reduction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said apparatus is adapted to connect to said remote noise detector via an ad hoc network connection.

7. A remote noise detector for detecting a background noise or interference and for wirelessly transmitting a noise estimate to a noise reduction apparatus, the remote noise detector comprising:

a level adjustment unit for compensating a level difference between a noise estimate and a noise component in an acoustic signal, wherein the noise estimate is power spectral density of a noise or interference remotely detected and wirelessly transmitted by at least one remote noise detector to a wireless receiver, and wherein the power spectral density is transmitted at a reduced spectral resolution in order to reduce a transmission bandwidth between the at least one remote noise detector and the wireless receiver; and

a path estimation unit for estimating an acoustic path between the at least one remote noise detector and an acoustic signal receiver.

8. The remote noise detector according to claim 7 , wherein said remote noise detector comprises a second microphone.

9. The remote noise detector according to claim 7 , wherein said remote noise detector is adapted to connect to said noise reduction apparatus via an ad hoc network connection.

10. The remote noise detector according to claim 7 , wherein said remote noise detector is adapted to transmit a time domain waveform to said noise reduction apparatus during a start-up phase, so as to enable path estimation.

11. A system for reducing at least one of background noise and interference during reception of an acoustic signal, said noise reduction system comprising:

a noise reduction apparatus for reducing at least one of background noise and interference during reception of an audio signal, said noise reduction apparatus comprising:

a wireless receiver for receiving a noise estimate;

a noise reduction processor coupled to the wireless receiver; and

an acoustic signal receiver, coupled to the noise reduction processor, for receiving an acoustic signal from a primary acoustic source;

wherein the noise reduction processor is configured for reducing or cancelling a noise component in said received acoustic signal based on said received noise estimate; and

at least one remote noise detector located close to at least one secondary acoustic source which generates said background noise or interference, wherein the received noise estimate is power spectral density of the background noise or interference remotely detected and wirelessly transmitted by at least one remote noise detector to the wireless receiver, and wherein the power spectral density is transmitted at a reduced spectral resolution in order to reduce a transmission bandwidth between the at least one remote noise detector and the wireless receiver.

12. A method of reducing at least one of background noise and interference during reception of an acoustic signal, said noise reduction method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a noise estimate from at least one remote noise detector, wherein the received noise estimate is power spectral density of the background noise or interference remotely detected and wirelessly transmitted by the at least one remote noise detector to a wireless receiver, and wherein the power spectral density is transmitted at a reduced spectral resolution in order to reduce a transmission bandwidth between the at least one remote noise detector and the wireless receiver,

receiving an acoustic signal from a primary acoustic source,

reducing or cancelling a noise component in said received acoustic signal based on said wirelessly received noise estimate.