Method for neural beamforming, channel shortening and noise reduction

1. A method of performing at least de-reverberation and noise-reduction of an input sound signal of at least one input channel, comprising:

performing, using at least one filter element, de-reverberation and noise-reduction of the input sound signal to generate a clean output sound signal;

estimating a time-frequency (T-F) mask based on one of the input sound signal or a sound signal derived from the input sound signal, wherein the noise-reduction is achieved by applying the T-F mask; and

determining, by a non-intrusive measure (NIM) estimation element, at least one non-intrusive measure (NIM) from the sound signal, wherein the at least one NIM includes at least one of voice activity detection (VAD) posterior, reverberation time, clarity index, direct-to-reverberant ratio (DRR), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR);

wherein the de-reverberation is achieved by applying at least one channel shortening (CS) filter component of the at least one filter element, and wherein the at least one CS filter component and the T-F mask are trained jointly and adjust to each other.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the noise reduction is performed in combination with the de-reverberation by the channel shortening (CS) filter component; and

the de-reverberation is achieved by applying the at least one channel shortening (CS) filter component of the at least one filter element in conjunction with the at least one NIM.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a VAD estimation element is used as the NIM estimation element, and the VAD posterior is used as the at least one NIM.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the CS filter component is estimated to a selected shortening target.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the T-F mask is estimated to a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) target.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein a noise-reduced sound signal is produced by applying the T-F mask, and wherein the at least one CS filter component is applied to the noise-reduced sound signal to achieve de-reverberation and produce a clean output signal.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein:

the at least one CS filter component is applied to the input sound signal to produce de-reverberated sound signal; and

the T-F mask is applied to the de-reverberated sound signal to achieve noise-reduction and produce a clean output signal.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein multiple input channels are provided for capturing multiple input sound signals, the method further comprising:

performing, by a phase alignment module, phase alignment of the multiple input sound signals to produce phase-aligned multiple sound signals.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

performing, by a weight-and-sum module, a weighted delay-and-sum beamforming of the phase-aligned multiple sound signals to produce a beamformed signal;

wherein at least one of i) a single filter element is applied to perform at least one of de-reverberation and noise-reduction of the beamformed signal to produce the clean output sound signal, and ii) at least one voice activity detection (VAD) posterior is determined based on the clean output sound signal.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein multiple CS filter components and a single noise-reduction mask are provided, the method further comprising:

applying the multiple CS filter components to the phase-aligned multiple sound signals to produce de-reverberated multiple sound signals;

performing, by a weight-and-sum module, a weighted delay-and-sum beamforming of the de-reverberated multiple sound signals to produce a beamformed signal; and

at least one of i) applying the single noise-reduction mask to the beamformed signal to produce the clean output sound signal, and ii) at least one voice activity detection (VAD) posterior is determined based at least in part on the clean output sound signal.

11. A system for performing at least de-reverberation and noise-reduction of an input sound signal of at least one input channel, comprising:

at least one filter element configured to perform de-reverberation and noise-reduction of the input sound signal to generate a clean output sound signal;

a non-intrusive measure (NIM) estimation element configured to perform at least one non-intrusive measure (NIM) from the sound signal, wherein the at least one NIM includes at least one of voice activity detection (VAD) posterior, reverberation time, clarity index, direct-to-reverberant ratio (DRR), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR);

wherein the de-reverberation is achieved by applying at least one channel shortening (CS) filter component of the at least one filter element, wherein the noise-reduction is achieved by applying a time-frequency (T-F) mask, the T-F mask estimated based on one of the input sound signal or a sound signal derived from the input sound signal, and wherein the at least one CS filter component and the T-F mask are trained jointly and adjust to each other.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein:

the noise reduction is performed in combination with the de-reverberation by the channel shortening (CS) filter component; and

the de-reverberation is achieved by applying the at least one channel shortening (CS) filter component of the at least one filter element in conjunction with the at least one NIM.

13. The system according to claim 11 , wherein a VAD estimation element is used as the NIM estimation element, and the VAD posterior is used as the at least one NIM.

14. The system according to claim 11 , wherein:

the CS filter component is estimated to a selected shortening target.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the T-F mask is estimated to a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) target.

16. The system according to claim 14 , wherein a noise-reduced sound signal is produced by applying the T-F mask, and wherein the at least one CS filter component is applied to the noise-reduced sound signal to achieve de-reverberation and produce a clean output signal.

17. The system according to claim 14 , wherein:

the at least one CS filter component is applied to the input sound signal to produce de-reverberated sound signal; and

the T-F mask is applied to the de-reverberated sound signal to achieve noise-reduction and produce a clean output signal.

18. The system according to claim 11 , wherein multiple input channels are provided for capturing multiple input sound signals, the system further comprising:

a phase alignment module configured to perform phase alignment of the multiple input sound signals to produce phase-aligned multiple sound signals.

19. The system according to claim 18 , further comprising:

a weight-and-sum module configured to perform a weighted delay-and-sum beamforming of the phase-aligned multiple sound signals to produce a beamformed signal;

wherein at least one of i) a single filter element is applied to perform at least one of de-reverberation and noise-reduction of the beamformed signal to produce the clean output sound signal, and ii) at least one voice activity detection (VAD) posterior is determined based on the clean output sound signal.

20. The system according to claim 18 , further comprising:

a weight-and-sum module configured to perform a weighted delay-and-sum beamforming;

wherein:

multiple CS filter components and a single noise-reduction mask are provided;

the multiple CS filter components are applied to the phase-aligned multiple sound signals to produce de-reverberated multiple sound signals;

the weight-and-sum module performs a weighted delay-and-sum beamforming of the de-reverberated multiple sound signals to produce a beamformed signal; and

at least one of i) the single noise-reduction mask is applied to the beamformed signal to produce the clean output sound signal, and ii) at least one voice activity detection (VAD) posterior is determined based at least in part on the clean output sound signal.