A subband space constrained beamformer incorporating voice activity detection [speech enhancement applications]

This paper introduces a new subband adaptive space constrained beamforming structure for use in hands-free speech enhancement applications. The scheme incorporates a space constrained source model and voice activity information through the integration of a voice activity detector (VAD). The VAD information is used to estimate noise covariance information during non-speech periods and to optimally estimate the source power spectral density (PSD), which is used to provide a spectrally optimized constraint on the source. The proposed structure is evaluated in a real car environment, yielding results which compare well to the optimal Wiener solution where full knowledge of the source is known.