Low bit rate transparent audio compression using adapted wavelets

Describes a novel wavelet based audio synthesis and coding method. The method uses optimal adaptive wavelet selection and wavelet coefficients quantization procedures together with a dynamic dictionary approach. The adaptive wavelet transform selection and transform coefficient bit allocation procedures are designed to take advantage of the masking effect in human hearing. They minimize the number of bits required to represent each frame of audio material at a fixed distortion level. The dynamic dictionary greatly reduces statistical redundancies in the audio source. Experiments indicate that the proposed adaptive wavelet selection procedure by itself can achieve almost transparent coding of monophonic compact disk (CD) quality signals (sampled at 44.1 kHz) at bit rates of 64-70 kilobits per second (kb/s). The combined adaptive wavelet selection and dynamic dictionary coding procedures achieve almost transparent coding of monophonic CD quality signals at bit rates of 48-66 kb/s.< >