IP Library Granted Patent US 12,482,479
Granted Patent B2
US 12,482,479 · App. 18/277,547 · Granted Nov 25, 2025

Acoustic signal enhancement apparatus, method and program

Inventors: Tomohiro Nakatani (Tokyo, JP); Rintaro Ikeshita (Tokyo, JP); Keisuke Kinoshita (Tokyo, JP); Hiroshi Sawada (Tokyo, JP); Shoko Araki (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: NTT, Inc.
G10L21/0232G10L21/0308
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,482,479
App. No.
18/277,547
Granted
Nov 25, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An acoustic signal enhancement device includes: a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit 2 configured to estimate spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) ; a reverberation suppression unit 3 configured to obtain a reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j and to generate a reverberation suppression signal vector using the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) and the observation signal vector X t,f ; a sound source separation unit 4 configured to obtain an enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector for each sound source j (where 1≤j≤J) corresponding to the target sound; and a control unit 5 configured to perform control such that processes of these units are repeatedly performed.

Claims (26)

1 . An acoustic signal enhancement device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to:

estimate spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) using power λ t (j) of a sound source j and an observation signal vector X t,f formed from an observation signal X t,f (m) of a microphone m for each sound source j when t is a time frame number, f is a frequency number, M is the number of microphones, m=1, . . . , M, there are a target sound and noise in the sound source, J is the number of target sounds, M>J, j=1, . . . , J+1, j of 1≤j≤J indicates a sound source corresponding to the target sound, and J+1 indicates a sound source corresponding to the noise;

obtain a reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j and to generate a reverberation suppression signal vector using the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) and the observation signal vectors X t,f ,

obtain an enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector for each sound source j (where 1≤j≤J) corresponding to the target sound; and

perform control such that processes of the processing circuitry are repeatedly performed.

2 . The acoustic signal enhancement device according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry further configured to obtain the reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j, and generate a reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f (1) corresponding to an observation signal X t,f (m) regarding an enhanced sound of the sound source j using the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) and the observation signal vector X t,f , and

the processing circuitry further configured to obtain the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and the power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f (j) for each sound source j (where 1≤j≤J) corresponding to the target sound.

3 . The acoustic signal enhancement device according to claim 2 , wherein

the processing circuitry further configured to obtain the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j by repeating (1) a process of obtaining a spatial covariance matrix Σ f (j) corresponding to the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f (j) and the power of the sound source j, (2) a process of updating a separation filter Q f (f) corresponding to the sound source j using the obtained spatial covariance matrix Σ f (j) , updating the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j using the updated separation filter Q f (j) and the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f (j) , and updating the power of the sound source j using the updated enhanced sound y t,f (j) , and (3) a process of updating the noise separation matrix Q N,f using the updated separation filter Q f (j) .

4 . The acoustic signal enhancement device according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry further configured to obtain the reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j, obtain a reverberation suppression filter G f common to all sound sources from the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) , and generate a reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f formed from a reverberation suppression signal z t,f (m) corresponding to an observation signal x t,f (m) using the obtained reverberation suppression filter Grand the observation signal vector X t,f , and

the processing circuitry further configured to obtain the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and the power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f for each sound source j (where 1≤j≤J) corresponding to the target sound.

5 . The acoustic signal enhancement device according to claim 4 , wherein

the processing circuitry further configured to finally obtain the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j by repeating (1) a process of obtaining a spatial covariance matrix Σ f (j) corresponding to the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f and the power of the sound source j, (2) a process of updating a separation filter Q f (j) corresponding to the sound source j using the obtained spatial covariance matrix Σ f (j) , updating the enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j using the updated separation filter Q f (j) and the generated reverberation suppression signal vector Z t,f , and updating the power of the sound source j using the updated enhanced sound y t,f (j) , and (3) a process of updating the noise separation matrix Q N,f using the updated separation filter Q f (j) .

6 . An acoustic signal enhancement method comprising:

a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation step of estimating spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) using power of a sound source j and an observation signal vector X t,f formed from an observation signal x t,f (m) of a microphone m for each sound source j by a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit when t is a time frame number, f is a frequency number, M is the number of microphones, m=1, . . . , M, there are a target sound and noise in the sound source, J is the number of target sounds, M>J, j=1, . . . , J+1, j of 1≤j≤J indicates a sound source corresponding to the target sound, and J+1 indicates a sound source corresponding to the noise;

a reverberation suppression step of obtaining a reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j and generating a reverberation suppression signal vector using the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) and the observation signal vectors X t,f by a reverberation suppression unit;

a sound source separation step of obtaining an enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector for each sound source j (where 1≤j≤J) corresponding to the target sound by a sound source separation unit; and

a control step of performing control by a control unit such that a process of the spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit, a process of the reverberation suppression unit, and a process of the sound source separation unit are repeatedly performed.

7 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-executable program instructions that when executed by a processor cause causing a computer to execute operations comprising:

a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation step of estimating spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) using power of a sound source j and an observation signal vector X t,f formed from an observation signal x t,f (m) of a microphone m for each sound source i by a spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit when t is a time frame number, f is a frequency number, M is the number of microphones, m=1, . . . , M, there are a target sound and noise in the sound source, J is the number of target sounds, M>J, j=1, . . . , J+1, j of 1≤j≤J indicates a sound source corresponding to the target sound, and J+1 indicates a sound source corresponding to the noise;

a reverberation suppression step of obtaining a reverberation suppression filter G f (j) of the sound source j using the estimated spatiotemporal covariance matrices R f (j) and P f (j) for each sound source j and generating a reverberation suppression signal vector using the obtained reverberation suppression filter G f (j) and the observation signal vectors X t,f by a reverberation suppression unit;

a sound source separation step of obtaining an enhanced sound y t,f (j) of the sound source j and power of the sound source j using the generated reverberation suppression signal vector for each sound source j (where 1<j≤J) corresponding to the target sound by a sound source separation unit; and

a control step of performing control by a control unit such that a process of the spatiotemporal covariance matrix estimation unit, a process of the reverberation suppression unit, and a process of the sound source separation unit are repeatedly performed.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jan 1, 2026
From: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
To: NTT, INC.
Reel/Frame 074164/0597 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 16, 2023
From: NAKATANI, TOMOHIRO; IKESHITA, RINTARO; KINOSHITA, KEISUKE; SAWADA, HIROSHI; ARAKI, SHOKO
To: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064613/0528 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240127841A1 · Apr 18, 2024
References Cited (7)
US 20110142252A1 · Morito · 2011 [cited by examiner]
Jakatanietal.(2010)Speechdereverberationbasedonvariance-normalizeddelayedlinearprediction,IEEETrans.udio,Speech,andLanguageProcessing,vol. 18,No. 7,pp. 1717-1731,[retrievedon Feb. 10, 2021],Internet URL:https://ieeexplo… [cited by examiner]
Nakatani et al. (2020) “Jointly Optimal Denoising, Dereverberation, and Source Separation,” IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Prosessing, vol. 28, Jul. 31, 2020, pp. 2267-2282. [cited by applicant]
Ikeshita et al. (2021) “Independent Vector Extraction for Joint Blind Source Separation and Dereverberation”, Feb. 9, 2021, Internet <URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.04696v1>. [cited by applicant]
Nakatani et al. (2020) “Computationally Efficient and Versatile Framework for Joint Optimization of Blind Speech Separation and Dereverberation”, Posted on Oct. 19, 2020, Internet <URL: https://www.isca-speech.org/archi… [cited by applicant]
Nakatani et al. (2010) “Speech dereverberation based on variance-normalized delayed linear prediction”, IEEE Trans. Audio, Speech, and Language Processing, vol. 18, No. 7, pp. 1717-1731, [retrieved on Feb. 10, 2021], In… [cited by applicant]
Ikeshita et al. (2020) “Overdetermined independent vector analysis, Proc. IEEE ICASSP”, Trans. Audio, Speech, and Language Processing, pp. 591-595, [retrieved on Feb. 10, 2021] Internet <URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.… [cited by applicant]