A noise-estimation algorithm for highly non-stationary environments

A noise-estimation algorithm is proposed for highly non-stationary noise environments. The noise estimate is updated by averaging the noisy speech power spectrum using time and frequency dependent smoothing factors, which are adjusted based on signal-presence probability in individual frequency bins. Signal presence is determined by computing the ratio of the noisy speech power spectrum to its local minimum, which is updated continuously by averaging past values of the noisy speech power spectra with a look-ahead factor. The local minimum estimation algorithm adapts very quickly to highly non-stationary noise environments. This was confirmed with formal listening tests which indicated that the proposed noise-estimation algorithm when integrated in speech enhancement was preferred over other noise-estimation algorithms.