Array model interpolation and subband iterative adaptive filters applied to beamforming-based acoustic echo cancellation

In this paper, an evolutionary exposition is given in regard to the enhancing strategies for acoustic echo cancellers (AECs). A fixed beamformer (FBF) is utilized to focus on the near-end speaker while suppressing the echo from the far end. In reality, the array steering vector could differ considerably from the ideal freefield plane wave model. Therefore, an experimental procedure is developed to interpolate a practical array model from the measured frequency responses. Subband (SB) filtering with polyphase implementation is exploited to accelerate the cancellation process. Generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) composed of an FBF and an adaptive blocking module is combined with AEC to maximize cancellation performance. Another enhancement is an internal iteration (IIT) procedure that enables efficient convergence in the adaptive SB filters within a sample time. Objective tests in terms of echo return loss enhancement (ERLE), perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), word recognition rate for automatic speech recognition (ASR), and subjective listening tests are conducted to validate the proposed AEC approaches. The results show that the GSC-SB-AEC-IIT approach has attained the highest ERLE without speech quality degradation, even in double-talk scenarios.

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