Patent ID: 7523032

Claim:
A method for use in speech coding, said method comprising: pre-processing a to be encoded speech based signal on a frame-by-frame basis such that a phase structure of said to be encoded speech based signal is approached to a phase structure which would be obtained if said to be encoded speech based signal was encoded and decoded; and applying an encoding to said pre-processed to be encoded speech based signal; wherein pre-processing said to be encoded speech based signal comprises for a respective frame of said to be encoded speech signal: estimating a pitch for said frame; determining a synthetic phase contour over said frame based on said pitch estimate and a pitch estimate for a preceding frame; locating at least one pitch pulse position in said determined synthetic phase contour; locating at least one pitch pulse position in said frame of said to be encoded speech based signal; and modifying said to be encoded speech based signal in said frame such that the at least one pitch pulse position is shifted to the at least one pitch pulse position of said synthetic phase contour.