Wideband CELP speech coding

The purpose of this thesis is to study the coding of wideband speech and to improve on previous Code-Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) coders in terms of speech quality and bit rate. To accomplish this task, improved coding techniques are introduced and the operating bit rate is reduced while maintaining and even enhancing the speech quality.the first approach considers the quantization of Liner Predictive Coding (LPC) parameters and uses a three way split vector quantization. Both scalar and vector quantization are initially studied; results show that, with adequate codebook training, the second method generates better results while using a fewer number of bits. Nevertheless, the use of vector quantizers remain highly complex in terms of memory and number of computations. A new quantization scheme, split vector quantization (split VQ), is investigated to overcome this complexity problem. Using a new weighted distance measure as a selection criterion for split VQ, the average spectral distortion is significantly reduced to match the results obtained with scalar quantizers.The second approach introduces a new pitch predictor with an increased temporal resolution for periodicity. This new technique has the advantage of maintaining the same quality obtained with conventional multiple coefficient predictors at a reduced bit rate. Furthermore, the conventional CELP noise weighting filter is modified to allow more freedom and better accuracy in the modeling of both tilt and formant structures. Throughout this process, different noise weighting schemes are evaluated and the results show that the new filter greatly contributes in solving the problem of high frequency distortion.The final wideband CELP coder is operational at 11.7 kbits/s and generates a high perceptual quality of the reconstructed speech using the fractional pitch predictor and the new perceptual noise weighting filter