A maximum likelihood approach to single-channel source separation

Abstract

This paper presents a new technique for achieving blind signal separation when given only a single channel recording. The main concept is based on exploiting a priori sets of time-domain basis functions learned by independent component analysis (ICA) to the separation of mixed source signals observed in a single channel. The inherent time structure of sound sources is reflected in the ICA basis functions, which encode the sources in a statistically efficient manner. We derive a learning algorithm using a maximum likelihood approach given the observed single channel data and sets of basis functions. For each time point we infer the source parameters and their contribution factors. This inference is possible due to prior knowledge of the basis functions and the associated coefficient densities. A flexible model for density estimation allows accurate modeling of the observation and our experimental results exhibit a high level of separation performance for simulated mixtures as well as real environment recordings employing mixtures of two different sources.