Speech Watermarking with Objective Fidelity and Robustness Criteria∗

Speech watermarking strategies inevitably alter original signal content. Fidelity is adversely affected by increased perturbation while watermark robustness to attack is generally improved. Parameter-embedded watermarking is effected through slight perturbations of parametric models of some deeply integrated dynamics of the speech. Within this framework, a specific algorithm is presented in which the fidelity-robustness tradeoff can be objectively assessed and quantifiably adjusted according to specific measures. An overview of the general parameter-embedding strategy is followed by presentation of the featured algorithm, analysis of its properties, and experiments with speech data to assess fidelity, robustness, and other performance properties.