Applying Speech Enhancement to Audio Surveillance

D O'Shaughnessy; P Kabal; D Bernardi; L Barbeau; C-C Chu; J-L Moncet

doi:10.1520/JFS12940J

Journal Published Online: 01 September 1990

Volume 35, Issue 5

Applying Speech Enhancement to Audio Surveillance

CODEN: JFSCAS

Abstract

Audio surveillance tapes are prime candidates for speech enhancement because of the many degradations and sources of interference that mask the speech signals on such tapes. In this paper, the authors describe ways to cancel interference when an available reference signal is not synchronized with the surveillance recording, for example, when the reference is obtained later from a phonograph record or an air check recording from a broadcast source. As a specific example, we discuss our experiences processing a wiretap recording used in an actual court case. We transformed the reference signal to reflect room and transmission effects and then subtracted the resulting secondary signal from the primary intercept signal, thus enhancing the speech of the desired talkers by removing interfering sounds. Before the secondary signal could be subtracted, the signals had to be aligned properly in time. The intercept signal was subjected to time-scale modifications made necessary by the varying phonograph and tape recorder speeds. While these speed differences are usually small enough not to affect the perceived quality, they adversely affect the ability to cancel interference automatically. In working with recording devices, we took into account four factors that affect the signal quality: the frequency response, nonlinear distortion, noise, and speed variations. The two methods that were most successful for enhancement were the least-mean-squares (LMS) adaptive cancellation and spectral subtraction.

Author Information

O'Shaughnessy, D