Speech enhancement using multiple soft constrained subband beamformers and non-coherent technique

This paper presents a new robust microphone array processing technique to enhance speech signals under the influence of noise and jammer(s). The new structure comprises two soft constrained subband beamformers and a non-coherent processing technique. Essentially, the first beamformer enhances the desired speech signal in a specified constrained region. The residual interference in the beamformer's output is then spectral subtracted using the estimated interference from the second beamformer. Evaluations in a real office environment show higher interference suppression compared to those obtained using the soft constrained beamformer only. Most importantly, this is achieved with negligible expense on target signal distortion.

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