Binaural coherent-to-diffuse-ratio estimation for dereverberation using an ITD model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a binaural CDR estimation method that accounts for head shadowing effects, improving dereverberation performance in binaural hearing aids by using an ITD model and binaural coherence modeling.

Contribution

It proposes a novel binaural CDR estimator incorporating head shadowing effects through an ITD model, enhancing dereverberation in binaural hearing aid applications.

Findings

Improved PESQ scores with the proposed estimator.

Effective modeling of head shadowing effects.

Enhanced dereverberation performance in binaural signals.

Abstract

Most previously proposed dual-channel coherent-to-diffuse-ratio (CDR) estimators are based on a free-field model. When used for binaural signals, e.g., for dereverberation in binaural hearing aids, their performance may degrade due to the influence of the head, even when the direction-of-arrival of the desired speaker is exactly known. In this paper, the head shadowing effect is taken into account for CDR estimation by using a simplified model for the frequency-dependent interaural time difference and a model for the binaural coherence of the diffuse noise field. Evaluation of CDR-based dereverberation with measured binaural impulse responses indicates that the proposed binaural CDR estimators can improve PESQ scores.