Sound perception using frequency transposition by moving the envelope

An audio processing device, comprising:

• an input signal receiver receiving an electric input signal representing a sound;
• a time to time-frequency converter configured to convert the electric input signal in a number of frequency bands;
• a frequency analyzer configured to analyze the electric input signal in a number of frequency bands below and above a critical frequency fcrit;
• a signal processor comprising a frequency transposition scheme for identifying a source frequency band above a cut-off frequency tcut below said critical frequency fcrit and for identifying a corresponding target band below said critical frequency fcrit;
• an envelope extraction unit for extracting an envelope of said source band;
• a phase extraction unit for extracting a phase of said target band;
• and
• a combination unit for combining the extracted envelope of said source band with the extracted phase of said target band.

A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed on a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform a method of operating an audio processing device to improve a user's perception of an input sound, the method comprising

• defining a critical frequency fcrit between a low frequency range and a high frequency range;
• receiving an input sound by said audio processing device;
• analyzing said input sound in a number of frequency bands below and above said critical frequency;
• defining a cut-off frequency fcut below said critical frequency fcrit;
• identifying a source frequency band above said cut-off frequency fcut;
• extracting an envelope of said source band;
• identifying a corresponding target band below said critical frequency fcrit;
• extracting a phase of said target band;
• and
• combining the envelope of said source band with the phase of said target band.