Robustness Comparison of Moving Convolutive Source Separation Techniques

A multitude of convolutive blind source separation algorithms exist, a small number of which can deal with moving sources. The main assumption for moving source algorithms is that for a small amount of time the sources are approximately stationary and hence the mixing conditions are slowly varying. In reality, speech sources are likely to fall silent and hence the mixing conditions will jump to new values. This paper compares a number of blind source separation algorithms focusing on robustness to source and jammer movement. Acoustic models of a single reflector, a studio and a meeting room are used to generate the source mixtures. In addition, weight robustness is assessed using real world recordings from a studio

Comparison of Subjective and Objective Evaluation Methods for Audio Source Separation

The evaluation of audio separation algorithms can either be performed objectively by calculation of numerical measures, or subjectively through listening tests. Although objective evaluation is inherently more straightforward, subjective listening tests are still essential in determining the perceived quality of separation. This paper aims to find relationships between objective and subjective results so that numerical values can be translated into perceptual criteria. A generic audio source separation system was modelled which provided varying levels of interference, noise and artifacts. This enabled a full spread of objective measurement values to be obtained. Extensive tests were performed utilising the output synthesised by this separation model. The relationships found were presented and the factors of prime importance were determined