Estimation of background noise in audio signals

A background noise estimator, for estimating background noise in an audio signal comprising a plurality of audio signal segments, the background noise estimator comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing computer readable instructions executed by the processor to perform operations comprising:
• compute at least one parameter based on both of:
• a first linear prediction gain calculated as a quotient between a residual signal from a 0th-order linear prediction and a residual signal from a 2nd-order linear prediction for the audio signal segment;
• and
• a second linear prediction gain calculated as a quotient between a residual signal from a 2nd-order linear prediction and a residual signal from a 16th-order linear prediction for the audio signal segment;
• determine whether the audio signal segment comprises a pause free of speech and music, based at least on the at least one parameter;
• responsive to when the audio signal segment is determined to comprise a pause,
• updating to obtain an updated a background noise estimate based on the audio signal segment;
• and
• controlling discontinuous transmission of at least one of the audio signal segments from a communication device at least partially based on the updated background noise estimate.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

• computing at least one parameter associated with an audio signal segment that is among the audio signal segments, based on both of:
• a first linear prediction gain calculated as a quotient between a residual signal (E(0)) from a 0th-order linear prediction and a residual signal (E(2)) from a 2nd-order linear prediction for the audio signal segment;
• and
• a second linear prediction gain calculated as a quotient between a residual signal (E(2)) from a 2nd-order linear prediction and a residual signal (E(16)) from a 16th-order linear prediction for the audio signal segment;
• determining whether the audio signal segment comprises a pause free of speech and music, based at least on the at least one parameter;
• responsive to when the audio signal segment is determined to comprise a pause, updating to obtain an updated background noise estimate based on the audio signal segment;
• and
• controlling discontinuous transmission of at least one of the audio signal segments from a continuous device at least partially based on the updated background noise estimate.