High clarity speech separation using synchroextracting transform

Degenerate unmixing estimation technique (DUET) is the most ideal blind source separation (BSS) method for underdetermined conditions with number of sources exceeds number of mixtures. Estimation of mixing parameters which is the most critical step in the DUET algorithm is developed based on the characteristic feature of sparseness of speech signals in time frequency (TF) domain. Hence, DUET relies on the clarity of time frequency representation (TFR) and even the slightest interference in the TF plane will be detrimental to the unmixing performance. In conventional DUET algorithm, short time Fourier transform (STFT) is utilized for extracting the TFR of speech signals. However, STFT can provide on limited sharpness to the TFR due to its inherent conceptual limitations, which worsens under noise contamination. This paper presents the application of post-processing techniques like synchrosqueezed transform (SST) and synchroextracting transform (SET) to the DUET algorithm, to improve the TF resolution. The performance enhancement is evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively by visual inspection, Renyi entropy of TFR and objective measures of speech signals. The results show enhancement in TF resolution and high clarity signal reconstruction. The method also provides adequate robustness to noise contamination.