Dynamic range compression for noisy mixtures using source separation and beamforming
Ryan M. Corey, Andrew C. Singer · 2017
Dynamic range compression is widely used in digital hearing aids, but performs poorly in noisy conditions with multiple sources. We propose a system that combines source separation, compression, and beamforming to compress each source independently. We derive an expression for a time-varying weighted multichannel Wiener filter that performs both beamforming and compression. Experiments using recorded speech and behind-the-ear hearing aid impulse responses suggest that the combined system provides more accurate dynamic range compression than a conventional compressor in the presence of competing speech and background noise.