Automated suppression of howling noise using sinusoidal model based analysis/synthesis

Automated suppression of howling noise in public address systems is of utmost importance as howling noise is very annoying to the speaker and audience. It adversely affects speech intelligibility. Howling is built up by a positive feedback loop set up between microphone, amplifier, and the speaker system. An automated method for detection and suppression of howling noise is proposed using sinusoidal model based analysis/synthesis. The method automatically adapts to the properties of howling noise and has the advantage of suppressing the noise, without degrading speech intelligibility. The system has been tested for satisfactory operation using a computer-based setup.