NCJ Number
125660
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 35 Issue: 5 Dated: (September 1990) Pages: 1163-1172
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Audio surveillance tapes are prime candidates for speech enhancement because of the many degradations and sources of interferences that mask the speech signals on such tapes. In this paper, the authors describe ways to cancel interference when an available reference signal is not synchronized with the surveillance recording, for example, when the reference is obtained later from a phonograph record or an air check recording from a broadcast source.
Abstract
As a specific example the authors discuss experiences processing a wiretap recording used in an actual court case. They transformed the reference signal to reflect room and transmission effects and then subtracted the resulting secondary signal from the primary intercept signal, thus enhancing the speech of the desired talkers by removing interfering sound. Before the secondary signal could be subtracted, the signals had to be aligned properly in time. The intercept signal was subjected to time-scale modifications made necessary by the varying phonograph and tape recorder speeds. While these speed differences are usually small enough not to affect the perceived quality, they adversely affect the ability to cancel interference automatically. In working with recording devices, the authors took into account four factors that affect the signal quality: the frequency response, nonlinear distortion, noise, and speed variations. The two methods that were most successful for enhancement were the least mean squares (LMS) adaptive cancellation and spectral subtraction. 3 references. (Author abstract)