Sharp Transition Multiband Filter in Speech Processing Scheme for Hearing Impaired

Problem statement: A simple analytical approach to the synthesis of a sharp transition, linear phase, multiband FIR filter is presented. The filter magnitude response is modeled using trigonometric functions of frequency. Approach: Employing variable density of ripple cycles in passband and stopband regions with large density of ripples cycles at the sharp transition edges, reduces the abrupt discontinuities at these edges. Results: As a result, Gibb’s phenomenon is reduced in the filter implementation thus giving a flat passband and good stopband attenuation. A closed form expression for impulse response coefficients is obtained. The filter design is easily tunable and allows for variation in transition bandwidth of each band. A speech processing scheme is implemented using a pair of the proposed sharp transition multiband FIR filters to split the speech spectrum into complementary short time spectral bands. Conclusion: The adjacent speech formants are fed dichotically to the two ears to reduce the effect of spectral masking and hence improve speech perception in sensorineural hearing impaired.