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Digital Processing of Speech Signals, by L. R. Rabiner and R. W. Schafer
Digital Processing of Speech Signals, by L. R. Rabiner and R. W. Schafer
Schafer
Victor W. Zue
Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 67, 1406 (1980); doi: 10.1121/1.384160
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.384160
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/67/4
Published by the Acoustical Society of America
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Digital Processingof Speech Signals tion in concatenatedlossless tubesand relatingthe resultsto digital
filters, a discreterepresentationof the vocal tract transferfunction
L. R. Rabiner and R. W. Schafer is obtained. The resultingdigitalmodel for the speechsignalsforms
Prentice-Hall,EnglewoodCliffs, NJ, 1979. the basisfor subsequentdiscussions.
xvi + 512 pp. Price $23.95. The next five chaptersof the book are devotedto specificmeth-
odsfor speechprocessing.Chapter4 dealswith time-domainmeth-
During the past 15 years we have witnesseda flourish of research odsin which the processing involvesthe direct utilization of the
activitiesin the field of digital signalprocessing.Suchactivities, speechwaveform. The chapterbeginsby presentinga generalnotion
broughtabout at leastin part by the increasedavailabilityof high- of "short-time" processing.This is followed by a discussionof the
speed,low-costdigitalcomputersand specialpurposehardware,have definition and propertiesof severalshort-timemeasurements,suchas
contributed significantlyto the field in terms of theoretical as well as the short-timeenergy,short-timeaveragezero-crossing rate, and
algorithmicdevelopments.Sincemany of thesedevelopmentswere short-time autocorrelation, that are commonly used for time-domain
actually carriedout within the context of speechprocessing,our speechprocessing.Also includedin this chapteris a discussion
on the
understanding of the fundamentalsunderlyingthe processing of median smoothingtechnique, which hasbeen demonstratedto be
speechsignalsby digital meanshas advancedto the extent that a particularlyeffectivefor time-domainspeechmeasurements.Time-
textbook on the subjectis clearly waxranted. The authors of this domainpitch detectorsand algorithmsfor voiced/unvoiced
classifica-
book havehad, betweenthem, over30 yearsof exceptionallyactive tion arealsodescribed
asexamplesof time-domainspeechprocessing
researchexperiencein digital signalprocessing in generaland speech systems.Chapter5 dealswith the direct digital representationof the
processingin particular. The outcome is an extremely valuablebook speechwaveform. The chapterbeginswith a brief descriptionof the
devotedto a timely subject. statisticalpropertiesof the speechwaveform, followed by a discuss-
The book is organizedaroundseveralbasicapproachesto digital ion of a variety of digital representationsthat includeinstantaneous
representationsof speechsignals,suchas the time-domainanalysis, quantization,adaptivequantization, and predictivequantization.
short-timeFourier analysis,homomorphicanalysis,and linear predic- Variouswaveformcodersrangingfrom simplepulsecodemodulation
tion analysis. Estimation techniquesfor speechparameterssuchas (PCM) to adaptivedifferential coding(ADPCM) are alsodiscussed in
pitch and formant frequenciesas well asspecificspeechprocessing this chapter.
applicationsare left asexamplesof the utility of eachrepresentation. In contrastto the previoustwo chapters,Chapters6-8 deal with
Thus, for example,time-domainpitch detectionalgorithmsare dis- frequency-domainspeechprocessing methodsin that they are based
cussedwithin the context of the time-domainmodel of speechpro- on a spectralrepresentationof the speechsignal. Chapter6 is de-
cessingwhile cepstralpitch detectionis discussed in the chapter voted to the notion of short-time Fourier analysisand synthesisof
dealingwith homomorphicanalysisof speech.The authorshave speech.It is shownthat the time-dependentFourier representation
chosensuchan organizationsincethey feel that "the most funda- of a signalcan be interpretedin the context of linear filtering where-
mental notionswere thoserelatedto digitalspeechrepresentations by the signalsis passedthrougha bank of filters with the appropriate
and that a soundunderstandingof suchrepresentations would allow characteristics.This leadsto a discussion of the designtechniques
the reader both to understand and to advance the methods and tech- for digital filter banks, as well asa discussionon the theoretical and
niquesfor parameterestimationand for designing speechprocessing implementationalissuesregardingthe f'fiterbank summationmethod
systems."This reviewer,for the most part, agreeswith theirjudg- for speechanalysisand synthesis.From this generalperspective,
ment. While it is true that specificparameterestimationtechniques severalspeechprocessing systems,includingthe spectrographic dis-
and speechprocessing applicationsappearto be scatteredamongthe play, the channelvocoder,and the phasevocoder,are then dis-
variouschapters,the repetition of topicsoften servesto reinforcethe cussed.
issuesrelatedto a particulartechniqueor application. Chapter7 concerns
the techniqueof hornorphicspeechproces-
The first three chaptersof this book developthe necessary back- sing. From the generalnotion of the homomorphicsystemfor con-
groundfor digital speechprocessing.Chapter 1 is an introduction to volution, it is shownthat the complex cepstmm,defined asthe in-
the notion of speechprocessing, with an overviewof the application versetransformof the complex logarithm of the Fourier transform,
areasthat are directly relatedto the topicscoveredin subsequent of a convolvedsignalis the sumof the individualcomplexcepstra.
chapters. Chapter2 providesa brief review of the fundamentalsof For the speechsignal,the homomorphictechniquethusenablesthe
digital signalprocessing.The topics include the z-transform,the separation of the excitationfunctionandthe transferfunctionpara-
Fourier transform,the discreteFourier transform,digital filters, metersin the cepstraldomainby simplelinearfilteringtechniques.
samplingtheorem,and decimationand interpolationof sampled Thischapterpresents
an excellentsummaryof the importantprop-
waveform. Thesetopicsaxecovered,in 21 pages,in a clear and con- ertiesof this analysistechnique. Also includedis a discussionon the
cisefashion,providingthe readerwith quick accessto key equations computationalissues.The homomorphicanalysistechniquehasbeen
and conceptsof digital signalprocessingthat are relevantto speech appliedto speechanalysis/synthesis, pitch detection,and formant
processing.Chapter 3 dealswith digital modelsfor the speechsignal. estimation. Chapter7 endswith a discussion of the basicideasbe-
The chapterbeginswith a brief introduction to the mechanismof hind thesespeechprocessing systems.
speechproductionand the acousticpropertiesof speechsounds. Chapter8 dealswith the topic of linearprediction. From the
This is followedby a presentationof the acoustictheory of speech digitalmodeldevelopedin Chapter3, it is shownthat a speechsam-
production,resultingin a modelin whichthe speechsignalis the ple canbe represented
asa linearcombinationof the pastsamples
output of a time-varyinglinear system excited by either random andthat by imposingpropererrorcriteria,the parameters of the
noiseor a quasiperiodic impulsetrain. By considering wavepropaga- speechmodelcanbe estimatedfrom the speechsignal.The authors
1407 J. Acoust.Soc.67(4), April 1980; 0001-4966/80/041407-02500.80; ¸ 1980 Acoust.Soc.Am.; Book Reviews 1407