Speech Intelligibility Enhancement by Equalization for in-Car Applications

  • Enguerrand Gentet
  • , Bertrand David
  • , Sebastien Denjean
  • , Gael Richard
  • , Vincent Roussarie

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a speech intelligibility enhancement method for typical in-car applications in noisy environments. While traditional speech enhancement algorithms aim at increasing the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), the goal here is to increase intelligibility by applying dedicated voice transformation techniques without changing the original SNR. The proposed method consists in an adaptive equalizer which reallocates the energy of frequency bands to maximize the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) under the constraint of a fixed perceived loudness. The validation of the algorithm is carried out by means of a perceptual test derived from the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) using four typical in-car noises of different driving conditions. The results obtained demonstrate the merit of the algorithm for low-frequency noises, that correspond to usual driving conditions, but also show the limit of the algorithm on noises with a spectrum more spread out induced by rain.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2020 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2020 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages6934-6938
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781509066315
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2020
Event2020 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2020 - Barcelona, Spain
Duration: 4 May 20208 May 2020

Publication series

NameICASSP, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - Proceedings
Volume2020-May
ISSN (Print)1520-6149

Conference

Conference2020 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2020
Country/TerritorySpain
CityBarcelona
Period4/05/208/05/20

Keywords

  • near-end listening enhancement
  • sentence recognition in noise
  • speech intelligibility index

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Speech Intelligibility Enhancement by Equalization for in-Car Applications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this