A method for audio signal processing, the method comprising: - in one or more frequency subbands, receiving M communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) in time frames and comprising a target signal ( X m ( l, k)) and a noise signal ( V m ( l, k)), where M ≥ 2; - in each subband, processing the Msubband communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) with a set of beamformer coefficients ( w ( l, k) 204, 304, 404) to obtain a beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l,k)); - in each subband, processing the M subband communication signals ( Y m ( l,k)) in N linearly independent target-cancelling beamformers ( B ( l, k), 203, 303, 403), where 1 ≤ N < M, to obtain N target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)) wherein the target signal ( X m ( l, k)) is suppressed relative to the noise signal ( V m ( l,k)); - processing the communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) with a target absence detector to obtain a target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, estimating a covariance matrix (Φ ZZ ( l, k)) of order N of the target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)) as an average, where individual time frames are weighted as a function of the target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, estimating an inverse target-cancelled covariance matrix Φ ZZ − 1 l k of order N ( 310, 410); - in each subband, determining a real-valued scaling factor ( c ML 2 l k,, 312, 412) in dependence of the inverse target-cancelled covariance matrix Φ ZZ − 1 l k and the N target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)); - in each subband, determining an initial estimate (φ VV 0 ( l, k) 311, 411) of the noise power in the beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l, k)) as an average, where individual time frames are weighted using said function of the target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, multiplying the initial noise estimate (φ VV 0 ( l,k)) with the scaling factor c ML 2 l k to obtain a refined estimate (φ VV ( l, k), 417) of the noise power in the beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l,k)). - in one or more frequency subbands, receiving M communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) in time frames and comprising a target signal ( X m ( l, k)) and a noise signal ( V m ( l, k)), where M ≥ 2; - in each subband, processing the Msubband communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) with a set of beamformer coefficients ( w ( l, k) 204, 304, 404) to obtain a beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l,k)); - in each subband, processing the M subband communication signals ( Y m ( l,k)) in N linearly independent target-cancelling beamformers ( B ( l, k), 203, 303, 403), where 1 ≤ N < M, to obtain N target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)) wherein the target signal ( X m ( l, k)) is suppressed relative to the noise signal ( V m ( l,k)); - processing the communication signals ( Y m ( l, k)) with a target absence detector to obtain a target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, estimating a covariance matrix (Φ ZZ ( l, k)) of order N of the target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)) as an average, where individual time frames are weighted as a function of the target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, estimating an inverse target-cancelled covariance matrix Φ ZZ − 1 l k of order N ( 310, 410); - in each subband, determining a real-valued scaling factor ( c ML 2 l k,, 312, 412) in dependence of the inverse target-cancelled covariance matrix Φ ZZ − 1 l k and the N target-cancelled signals ( Z ( l, k)); - in each subband, determining an initial estimate (φ VV 0 ( l, k) 311, 411) of the noise power in the beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l, k)) as an average, where individual time frames are weighted using said function of the target absence signal ( T ( l, k)); - in each subband, multiplying the initial noise estimate (φ VV 0 ( l,k)) with the scaling factor c ML 2 l k to obtain a refined estimate (φ VV ( l, k), 417) of the noise power in the beamformer output signal ( Y w ( l,k)).