From: Jerry Avins on
Richard Owlett wrote:
> *DT* defined - DIVERGING from 'topic'
>
>
> Jerry Avins wrote:
>> kork wrote:
>>>> Tim Wescott wrote:
>>>>> On Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:57:49 -0600, kork wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>> kork wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi folks,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'm going to develop a quality control application that inspects
>>>>>> recently
>>>>>>>> imported audio files for a number of checks. One of them is the
>>>>>> detection
>>>>>>>> of counterphase fragments in the file. With counterphase I mean a
>>> 180
>>>>>>>> degrees (or pi rad, if you prefer)
>>>>>> phase
>>>>>>>> shift between the two audio channels in the (stereo) file. In a
>>> radio
>>>>>>>> broadcast of the file this is killing when it is listened through a
>>>>>>>> mono-receiver.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I was thinking of subtracting one channel from the other (or
>>>>>>>> reverse
>>> a
>>>>>>>> channel and add it to the other). Then flagging the audio fragments
>>> as
>>>>>>>> counterphase when the resulting signal differs a lot from zero
>>> during
>>>>>> a
>>>>>>>> certain amount of time.
>>>>>>>> But since it is likely that the 2 channels are anything but equal,
>>> I
>>>>>> may
>>>>>>>> never get to see a flatlioe.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I thought maybe you DSP guys can give me some insights on this?
>>> Maybe
>>>>>>>> there's a test in the frequency domain I can think of?
>>>>>>> Compute (L+R) and (L-R), rectify, accumulate, compare. It is very
>>>>>>> obvious if the stereo channels are in phase or out of phase.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Vladimir Vassilevsky
>>>>>>> DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant http://www.abvolt.com
>>>>>> Hi Vladimir,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for your answer.
>>>>>> Would you mind elaborating a bit on the "rectify" and "accumulate"
>>>>>> suggestions? They're not so obvious terms for me in this domain.
>>> Thanks
>>>>>> again.
>>>>> "Rectify": take the absolute value.
>>>>>
>>>>> "Accumulate": sum up a bunch of samples.
>>>>>
>>>>> Then compare the relative strengths of the L+R and L-R channels --
>>>>> normally L-R should be significantly smaller than L+R. In fact, this
>>> is
>>>>> why the 'wrong' way is a broadcast-killer -- the FM stereo
>>>>> broadcast protocol depends on this property, won't work without it,
>>>>> etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'll charge you money for answers, too, but only if the question takes
>>>
>>>>> more than a few lines to answer.
>>>> The accumulation should be lossy; i.e., include a "forgetting
>>>> factor". alternatively, you could dump the result after a suitable
>>>> time and start
>>>
>>>> over.
>>>>
>>>> Jerry
>>>> --
>>>
>>> Thanks Tim and Jerry,
>>>
>>> I appreciate the jargon explanation.
>>> This sounds pretty straight-forward to implement. I'll have a go at it.
>>>
>>> Jerry, your "forgetting factor" sounds logical. I was thinking of just
>>> testing separate successive chunks of samples, so I won't have any
>>> "memory-effect".
>>
>> That will require counting and branching. Forgetting is actually
>> simpler. The convention is that x[n] is the input and y[n] is the
>> output. Set y[n+1] = (1-a)*y[n] + a*x[n+1]. For stability, 0 > a > 1.
>> Larger values forget faster. This is called an exponential averager.
>>
>> Jerry
>
> Why is this called an "exponential averager"?

With this averager. the past decays away exponentially. Seen as an IIR
filter, it is a first-order low-pass a "time" constant easily related to a.

> I have heard of "boxcar" and "running" averages.
> What is/are the difference(s)?

A boxcar averager reports the average of the last N samples: N is your
choice. A running average is the average of all past samples. Not quite
trivial to implement.

> What other averageres exist?

As many more as you might have reason to invent.

> The OP apparently says he is looking at *NON*overlapping chunks of data.
> Is there not there an *INTRINSIC* forgetting factor?

Past blocks are forgotten, but I call that a process. The forgetting
*factor* in the exponential averager is 1-a, applied to each new result.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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