Estimation of the Ideal Binary Mask using Directional Systems

The ideal binary mask is often seen as a goal for time-frequencymasking algorithms trying to increase speech intelligibility, but therequired availability of the unmixed signals makes it difficult to calculatethe ideal binary mask in any real-life applications. In thispaper we derive the theory and the requirements to enable calculationsof the ideal binary mask using a directional system without theavailability of the unmixed signals. The proposed method has a lowcomplexity and is verified using computer simulation in both idealand non-ideal setups showing promising results.Index Terms— Time-Frequency Masking, Directional systems,Ideal Binary Mask, Speech Intelligibility, Sound separation

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