Optimal processing strategies for non-stationary noise based on the comodulation masking release
Summary:
Comodulation masking release (CMR) describes a psychoacoustic phenomenon which facilitates the detection of masked sounds if the masker is an amplitude-modulated wideband sound. CMR constitutes a case of processing in the auditory pathway which reaches across the range of single critical frequency bands.
This project aims to develop optimal processing techniques for estimating speech and noise parameters in the spectro-temporal domain which will take comodulation effects into account. Research fellows will explore the limits of sensitivity for normal and hearing-impaired users with respect to fluctuations in the processed signals and will explore whether comodulation masking release can be exploited in the enhancement process. Fellows will then develop improved models for processing speech in non-stationary noise which includes the non-Gaussian distribution of speech and models for the temporal dynamics including modulations.
References:
Bregman, Albert S. (1994): Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of sound. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Ernst, S., Verhey, J. (2005): “Comodulation Masking Release Over a Three Octave Range”, Acta Acustica united with Acustica, vol. 91, pp. 998-1006.
Moore, B.C.J., Shailer, M.J., Hall, J.W. Schooneveldt, G.P. (1996): “Comodulation masking release in subjects with unilateral and bilateral hearing impairment”, J. Acoustical Society Amerika, vol. 93, no. 1, pp. 435-451.
