A Bayesian Filter for Sound Environment System with Quantized Observation

In the real sound environment, the observation data are usually contaminated by additional background noise of arbitrary distribution type. In order to estimate several evaluation quantities for specific signal based on the observed noisy data, it is fundamental to estimate the fluctuating wave form of the specific signal. On the other hand, the observation data are very often measured in a digital level form at discrete times. This is because some signal processing methods by utilizing a digital computer are indispensable for extracting exactly various kinds of statistical evaluation for the specific signal based on the quantized level data. In this study, a Bayesian filter matched to the complicated sound environment system is derived. First, in the real situation where the sound environment system is affected by background noise of arbitrary probability distribution, a stochastic system model with quantized observation is established. Next, two types of the recursive algorithm of Bayesian filter to estimate the unknown specific signal are theoretically proposed in the quantized level form. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed theory is experimentally confirmed by applying it to the estimation problem of real sound environment.