Discrete frequency warped wavelets: theory and applications

We extend the definition of dyadic wavelets to include frequency warped wavelets. The new wavelets are generated and the transform computed in discrete-time by alternating the Laguerre transform with perfect reconstruction filterbanks. This scheme provides the unique implementation of orthogonal or biorthogonal warped wavelets by means of rational transfer functions. We show that the discrete-time warped wavelets lead to well-defined continuous-time wavelet bases, satisfying a warped form of the two-scale equation. The shape of the wavelets is not invariant by translation. Rather, the “wavelet translates” are obtained from one another by allpass filtering. We show that the phase of the delay element is asymptotically a fractal. A feature of the warped wavelet transform is that the cut-off frequencies of the wavelets may be arbitrarily assigned while preserving a dyadic structure. The new transform provides an arbitrary tiling of the time-frequency plane, which can be designed by selecting as little as a single parameter. This feature is particularly desirable in cochlear and perceptual models of speech and music, where accurate bandwidth selection is an issue. As our examples show, by defining pitch-synchronous wavelets based on warped wavelets, the analysis of transients and denoising of inharmonic pseudo-periodic signals is greatly enhanced