Adaptive noise energy estimation in pathological speech signals

For pathological voices, spectral noise is closely related to the degree of perceived hoarseness. In this paper, noise variations are tracked during an utterance by means of an adaptive version of the normalized noise energy method (H. Kasuya et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 80, no. 5, p. 1329-34, 1986). A first step is devoted to pitch estimation, which allows defining the varying optimal time window length for noise retrieval, avoiding empty "dip" regions. The approach Is tested on synthetic data and applied to real data coming from cordectomised adult male patients.