Multiresolution sinusoidal modeling using adaptive segmentation

The sinusoidal model has proven useful for representation and modification of speech and audio. One drawback, however, is that a sinusoidal signal model is typically derived using a fixed frame size, which corresponds to a rigid signal segmentation. For nonstationary signals, the resolution limitations that result from this rigidity lead to reconstruction artifacts. It is shown in this paper that such artifacts can be significantly reduced by using a signal-adaptive segmentation derived by a dynamic program. An atomic interpretation of the sinusoidal model is given; this perspective suggests that algorithms for adaptive segmentation can be viewed as methods for adapting the time scales of the constituent atoms so as to improve the model by employing appropriate time-frequency tradeoffs