TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF CELP-TYPE SPEECH CODERS

Techniques for improving the performance of CELP-type speech coders while maintaining reasonable computational complexity are explored. A harmonic noise weighting function, which enhances the perceptual quality of the processed speech, is introduced. The combination of harmonic noise weighting and subsample pitch lag resolution significantly improves the coder performance for voiced speech. Strategies for reducing the speech coder's data rate, while maintaining speech quality, are presented. These include a method for efficient encoding of the long-term predictor lags, utilization of multiple gain vector quantizers, and a multimode definition of the speech coder frame. A 5.9 kb/s VSELP speech coder, which incorporates these features, is described. Complexity reduction techniques are discussed which allow the coder to be implemented using a single fixed-point DSP.