The application of non-linear partial differential equations for the removal of noise in audio signal processing

Abstract

This work explores a new method of applying partial di erential equations to audio signal processing, particularly that of noise removal. Two methods are explored and compared to the method of noise removal used in the free software Audacity(R). The rst of these methods uses a non-linear variation of the di usion equation in two dimensions, coupled with a non-linear sink/source term, in order to lter the imaginary and real components of an array of overlapping windows of the signal's Fourier transform. The second model is that of a non-linear di usion function applied to the magnitude of the Fourier transform in order to estimate the noise power spectrum to be used in a spectral subtraction noise removal technique. The technique in this work features nite di erence methods to approximate the solutions of each of the models.