Measurement of Reverberation Time Using a Two-stage Algorithm

The use of voice control of unmanned aerial vehicles is relevant due to the ease of practical use and new opportunities. This technology allows one to simplify the interface, making it more intuitive and natural. However, the quality and intelligibility of speech signals indoors can be significantly impaired by noise and reverberation. Therefore, before using voice technologies, it is desirable to take into account the effect of interferences by preliminary assessment of their parameters. In this paper, an algorithm for estimating the boundary (truncation time) between the informative and non-informative parts of the room impulse response, which allows obtaining believable estimates of the reverberation time, is proposed. The proposed algorithm is two-stage. At the first stage, “rough” envelope of the room impulse response is calculated using the detector-integrator, which allows one to find an approximate value of truncation time and construct an approximate envelope of room impulse response using backward integration method to obtain an approximate estimate of the reverberation time. In the second stage, output data of the first stage are used to refine the truncation time and reverberation time estimates. Experimental tests using recordings of real room impulse responses testify to the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.