Noise-robust 1200-bps voice coding

A novel voice coding algorithm for tactical systems such as Minterm has been developed. The Soft Voicing Vocoder (SVV) algorithm meets three requirements for tactical systems: (1) low bit rate (2400 bps and below); (2) high intelligibility despite acoustic background noise; and (3) modest complexity. At 1200 bps, SVV gives higher intelligibility in noise than the standard LPC-10 2400 bps voice algorithm as defined in Fed. Std. 1015. Intelligibility improves even further when the SVV bit rate is increased to 2400 bps. The SVV is less than double the complexity of the standard 2400 bps algorithm, and can be implemented in real time on a single-chip DSP (digital signal processor) such as the TI TMS320C50. The author describes the algorithm and summarizes the performance. Finally, he shows the current implementation status and areas for further work.<
>