Re: Robust method of fundamental frequency estimation.

[Arturo Camacho <acamacho@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear members,

I just want to add two points to what Yi-Wen said:

> Dear list,
>
>
> Just want to draw your attention to a good summary on various
> auto-correlation based pitch determination methods,
>
> Arturo Camacho and John G. Harris, "A biological inspired pitch
> determination algorithm", Fourth Joint Meeting of ASA and ASJ, Honolulu,
> Nov. 2006.
>
> Contact arturo@xxxxxxxxxxxx if interested.
>
> Best regards,
> Yi-Wen

First, in that presentation we not only did a summary of pitch estimation
algorithms (PEA) but also pointed out some pitfalls they have. Second, we
did it not only for autocorrelation based algorithms, but also for many
other algorithms we considered to be ?classical?. Although some of these
algorithms were initially proposed using a time-domain approach, all of
them can also be formulated using the spectrum of the signal, and that is
the approach we took. We expressed those algorithms as the selection of
the pitch candidate (PC) that maximizes an integral transform of a
function of the spectrum.

Below  is a summary of our findings. For each algorithm, we give a short
DESCRIPTION, then the FUNCTION applied to the spectrum, the KERNEL of the
integral transform, and finally a PROBLEM of the algorithm. Sometimes you
will find that the algorithm also have problems presented before or
problems that will be presented later. Notice that the order we present
the algorithms is such that each subsequent algorithm does not exhibit the
problem mentioned for the previous algorithm. A final note about
semantics, to make the writing short in the descriptions, when we say
spectrum we mean MAGNITUDE of the spectrum.

HARMONIC PRODUCT SPECTRUM (HPS)
-------------------------------
DESCRIPTION: multiplies the spectrum at multiples of the PC, or
equivalently, adds the log of the spectrum at multiples of the PC.
FUNCTION: log
KERNEL: periodic sum of pulses
PROBLEM: If any harmonic of the pitch is missing, the log is minus
infinity and therefore the integral is also minus infinity.

SUB-HARMONIC SUMMATION (SHS)
----------------------------
DESCRIPTION: adds the spectrum at multiples of the PC.
FUNCTION: none
KERNEL: periodic sum of pulses
PROBLEM: Any subharmonic of the pitch has the same score as the pitch.

SUB-HARMONIC SUMMATION with decay
---------------------------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as SHS but uses a decaying factor to give less weight to
high order harmonics.
FUNCTION: none
KERNEL: decaying periodic sum of pulses
PROBLEM: The same score it produces for a pulse train at the pitch is
produced for white noise at each PC. Therefore, not only it produces an
infinite number of pitch estimates for white noise but also they have the
same strength as a pulse train.

SUBHARMONIC-TO-HARMONIC RATIO (SHR)
-----------------------------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as SHS but subtracts the spectrum at the middle points
between harmonics. Uses log spectrum, though.
FUNCTION: log
KERNEL: periodic sum of positive pulses plus half-period-shifted sum of
negative pulses
PROBLEM: Like all the algorithms presented above, it does not work for
inharmonic signals

HARMONIC SIEVE (HS)
-------------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as SHS but instead of pulses it uses rectangles
FUNCTION: none
KERNEL: sum of rectangles
PROBLEM: weighting applied to spectrum is too sharp. A slight shift in a
component may take it in or out of the rectangle, possibly changing the
estimated pitch drastically.

CEPSTRUM (CEP)
-------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as SHR but instead of pulses uses a cosine to transition
from 1 to -1.
FUNCTION: log
KERNEL: cosine
PROBLEM: uses the log (see HPS)

UNBIASED AUTOCORRELATION (UAC)
------------------------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as CEP but squares the spectrum
FUNCTION: square
KERNEL: cosine
PROBLEM: If signal is periodic then UAC is also periodic. Therefore there
are infinite number of maximums. Taking the first local maximum (excluding
maximum at zero) does not work either. Try a signal with first four
harmonics with magnitudes 1,6,1,1. At high enough levels its pitch
corresponds to the fundamental frequency, however, the first maximum in
the UAC corresponds to the second harmonic.

BIASED AUTOCORRELATION (BAC)
------------------------------
DESCRIPTION: Same as UAC but a bias is applied such that a weight of one
is applied to a period of 0 and decays linearly to zero for a period T,
where T is the size of the window.
FUNCTION: square
KERNEL: cosine
PROBLEM: Like UAC, the squaring of the spectrum gives to much emphasis to
salient harmonics. This feature combined with the bias may cause problems.
For example, for the 1,6,1,1 signal, the bias can make the score of the
second harmonic higher than the score of the fundamental (take for example
the fundamental period as T/4)

END OF LIST
===========

In ISCAS 2007 we will be presenting an algorithm that avoids the problems
presented here. It will be published in the proceedings of the conference.
>From the order we presented here the algorithms it is easy to infer what
the algorithm looks like.

Arturo

-- 
__________________________________________________

Arturo Camacho
PhD Student
Computer and Information Science and Engineering
University of Florida

E-mail: acamacho@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web page: www.cise.ufl.edu/~acamacho
__________________________________________________