MIXING SPEECH AND NOISE IN AN EAR-WORN DEVICE BASED ON NOISE LEVEL
An ear-worn device may include neural network circuitry configured to determine, using a neural network, one or both of a neural network-predicted speech component of an input audio signal and a neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal. The ear-worn device may further include mixing circuitry configured to perform mixing resulting in an output signal corresponding to the neural network-predicted speech component of the input audio signal mixed with the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal. The ear-worn device may further include adaptive mixing control circuitry configured to control the mixing performed by the mixing circuitry based, at least in part, on a level of an estimate of a stationary noise component of the input audio signal and/or a level of the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal.
1 . An ear-worn device, comprising:
noise reduction circuitry comprising:
neural network circuitry configured to determine, using a neural network, one or both of a neural network-predicted speech component of an input audio signal and a neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal;
mixing circuitry configured to perform mixing resulting in an output signal corresponding to the neural network-predicted speech component of the input audio signal mixed with the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal; and
adaptive mixing control circuitry configured to control the mixing performed by the mixing circuitry based, at least in part, on:
a level of an estimate of a stationary noise component of the input audio signal; and/or
a level of the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal.
2 . The car-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the mixing circuitry is configured to mix the neural network-predicted speech component of the input audio signal with the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal.
3 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the mixing circuitry is configured to mix the neural network-predicted speech component of the input audio signal with the input audio signal.
4 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the mixing circuitry is configured to mix the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal with the input audio signal.
5 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 , wherein:
the mixing circuitry is configured to perform the mixing such that the output signal comprises a component comprising the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal multiplied by a weight; and
the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured, when controlling the mixing performed by the mixing circuitry, to control the weight.
6 . The ear-worn device of claim 5 , wherein the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured to:
determine the weight from a first range of weight values when the level is greater than a first level value; and
determine the weight from a second range of weight values when the level is lower than the first level value;
wherein at least a portion of the second range of weight values is greater than the first range of weight values.
7 . The ear-worn device of claim 6 , wherein at least one weight value in the first range of weight values is equal to 0, equal to 0.2, or between 0 and 0.2.
8 . The ear-worn device of claim 6 , wherein at least one weight value in the second range of weight values is equal to 0.15, equal to 0.35, or between 0.15 and 0.35.
9 . The ear-worn device of claim 6 , wherein at least one weight value in the second range of weight values is equal to 0.3, equal to 0.5, or between 0.3 and 0.5.
10 . The ear-worn device of claim 6 , wherein the first level value is in a range of approximately 50-70 dB SPL.
11 . The ear-worn device of claim 5 , wherein the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured to:
determine the weight from a first range of weight values when the level is greater than a first level value and lower than a second level value; and
determine the weight from a second range of weight values when the level is lower than the first level value;
wherein at least a portion of the second range of weight values is greater than the first range of weight values.
12 . The ear-worn device of claim 11 , wherein the second level value is in a range of approximately 70-90 dB SPL.
13 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured, when controlling the mixing performed by the mixing circuitry, to control a relative weight applied to the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal versus the neural network-predicted speech component of the input audio signal in the output signal.
14 . The ear-worn device of claim 13 , wherein the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured to:
determine the relative weight from a first range of relative weight values when the level is greater than a first level value; and
determine the relative weight from a second range of relative weight values when the level is lower than the first level value;
wherein at least a portion of the second range of relative weight values is greater than the first range of relative weight values.
15 . The car-worn device of claim 14 , wherein at least one relative weight value in the first range of relative weight values is equal to 0, equal to 0.2, or between 0 and 0.2.
16 . The ear-worn device of claim 14 , wherein at least one relative weight value in the second range of relative weight values is equal to 0.15, equal to 0.35, or between 0.15 and 0.35.
17 . The ear-worn device of claim 14 , wherein at least one relative weight value in the second range of relative weight values is equal to 0.3, equal to 0.5, or between 0.3 and 0.5.
18 . The ear-worn device of claim 14 , wherein the first level value is in a range of approximately 50-70 dB SPL.
19 . The ear-worn device of claim 13 , wherein the adaptive mixing control circuitry is configured to:
determine the relative weight from a first range of relative weight values when the level is greater than a first level value and lower than a second level value; and
determine the relative weight from a second range of relative weight values when the level is lower than the first level value;
wherein at least a portion of the second range of relative weight values is greater than the first range of relative weight values.
20 . The ear-worn device of claim 19 , wherein the second level value is in a range of approximately 70-90 dB SPL.
21 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 further comprising stationary noise reduction circuitry configured to generate the estimate of the stationary noise component of the input audio signal.
22 . The ear-worn device of claim 21 , wherein the stationary noise reduction circuitry is configured to generate the estimate of the stationary noise component of the input audio signal using a minimum statistics noise estimation algorithm.
23 . The ear-worn device of claim 1 , further comprising circuitry configured to smooth the estimate of the stationary noise component of the input audio signal or the neural network-predicted noise component of the input audio signal is smoothed.