A geometric approach to spectral subtraction

The traditional power spectral subtraction algorithm is computationally simple to implement but suffers from musical noise distortion. In addition, the subtractive rules are based on incorrect assumptions about the cross terms being zero. A new geometric approach to spectral subtraction is proposed in the present paper that addresses these shortcomings of the spectral subtraction algorithm. A method for estimating the cross terms involving the phase differences between the noisy (and clean) signals and noise is proposed. Analysis of the gain function of the proposed algorithm indicated that it possesses similar properties as the traditional MMSE algorithm. Objective evaluation of the proposed algorithm showed that it performed significantly better than the traditional spectral subtractive algorithm. Informal listening tests revealed that the proposed algorithm had no audible musical noise.