A variable higher bit approach to audio steganography

Steganography is the art of hiding data in a medium without making it apparent that the medium contains a message. Various techniques for Steganography have been proposed in different mediums by researchers. The most commonly used form of Steganography is the LSB (Least Significant Bit) Steganography in which the Least Significant Bit of a byte is changed. Here, we propose a variable higher bit approach to Steganography with audio as our medium of choice. We present an algorithm which uses either of 2 consecutive higher order bits to hide data. In this approach, instead of simply setting or resetting the relevant bit, the whole byte is modified so that it retains the data while being nearest to the original byte value. Since the LSB itself is not used in this method, an additional bit of data can also be hidden if need be.