Voice activity detection method and apparatus
AssigneeBabylon Partners Limited
InventorsAlessandro Rodolfo Guazzi, Maxim Osipov
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting voice activity in an audio signal by taking the ratio of the entropy and the energy band ratio of the power spectrum of the audio signal. The signal is classified as containing voice episodes if the voice activity ratio is above a predefined threshold. The method may be applied to any noisy signal in which there is uncertainty about the presence of voice activity and in real-time analysis of sound, preceding further analysis of the sound signal.
Claims29
A method for detecting voice activity, the method comprising:
- receiving an input signal;
- estimating a power spectrum of the input signal;
- calculating an energy band ratio of the input signal for a first set of equency ranges of the input signal to a second set of frequency ranges of the input signal;
- calculating an entropy value of the input signal;
- calculating a voice activity ratio based on the entropy value and the energy band ratio;
- outputting an output signal indicating that the input signal comprises a voice episode, if the voice activity ratio is above a predefined threshold.
The method according to claim wherein the input signal is temporally windowed and the method is performed for each window.
An apparatus for detecting voice activity, the apparatus comprising;
- an input for receiving an input signal;
- a processor for processing the input signal;
- the processor being configured to execute a method for detecting voice activity. the method comprising:
- receiving an input signal;
- estimating a power spectrum of the input signal;
- calculating an energy band ratio of the input signal for a first set of frequency ranges of the input signal to a second set of frequency ranges of the input signal;
- calculating an entropy value of the input signal:
- calculating a voice activity ratio based on the entropy value and the energy band ratio;
- and
- outputting an output signal indicating that the input signal comprises a voice episode, if the voice activity ratio is above a predefined threshold.
(canceled)
28-30. (canceled)
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium is provided including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for detecting voice activity, the method comprising:
- receiving an input signal;
- estimating a power spectrum of the input signal;
- calculating an energy band ratio of the input signal for a first set of frequency ranges of the input signal to a second set of frequency ranges of the input signal;
- calculating an entropy value of the input signal;
- calculating a voice activity ratio based on the entropy value and the energy band ratio;
- and
- outputting an output signal indicating that the input signal comprises a voice episode, if the voice activity ratio is above a predefined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.