Improved phase vocoder time-scale modification of audio

The phase vocoder is a well-established tool for time scaling and pitch shifting speech and audio signals via modification of their short-time Fourier transforms (STFT's). In contrast to time-domain time-scaling and pitch-shifting techniques, the phase vocoder is generally considered to yield high quality results, especially for large modification factors and/or polyphonic signals. However, the phase vocoder is also known for introducing a characteristic perceptual artifact, often described as "phasiness," "reverberation," or "loss of presence." This paper examines the problem of phasiness in the context of time-scale modification and provides new insights into its causes. Two extensions to the standard phase vocoder algorithm are introduced, and the resulting sound quality is shown to be significantly improved. Moreover, the modified phase vocoder is shown to provide a factor-of-two decrease in computational cost.