An adaptive multi rate wideband speech codec with adaptive gain re-quantization

This paper describes an adaptive multi-rate wideband (AMR-WB) speech codec proposed for the GSM system and also for the evolving third generation (3G) mobile speech services. The coder is a multi rate SB-CELP (subband-code excited linear prediction) with five modes operating at bit rates from 24 kbit/s down to 9.1 kbit/s. Our basic approach consists of an unequal band-splitting of the input signal into two subbands (SB). A variable rate, multi-mode ACELP coder is applied to the lower subband (0-6 kHz). The various bit rates are integrated in a common structure where the scalability is realized by exchanging the fixed excitation codebooks while leaving all other codec parameters invariant. For the GSM related modes (9.1-17.8 kbit/s), the upper subband (6-7 kHz) is coded using a very low bit rate representation based on bandwidth expansion techniques. In case of the 3G application (24 kbit/s) the upper band is coded using a 4 kbit/s ADPCM coding scheme. In addition the analysis by synthesis (AbS) coder of the lower band employs a novel closed loop gain re-quantization technique controlled by the character of the speech signal. Thereby the codec achieves an enhanced performance for background noise while maintaining its clean speech quality.