Patent ID: 8116471

Claim:
A method of estimating the reverberations in a signal (y), the signal (y) including a combination of a direct part (d) and a reverberations part (r), the method comprising: providing, via a filter device, an estimate ({circumflex over (R)}) of the frequency spectrum (R) of the reverberations part (r) using a first parameter (α), a second parameter (β) and the frequency spectrum (Y) of the signal (y), the filter device being responsive to the first parameter (α), the second parameter (β) and the frequency spectrum (Y) of the signal (y) for providing the estimate ({circumflex over (R)}) of the frequency spectrum (R) of the reverberations part (r), wherein the first parameter (α) is indicative of the decay of the reverberations part (r) over time, and wherein the second parameter (β) is indicative of a step in relative energy content in an energy decay curve of a room impulse response, wherein the step occurs in the energy decay curve between a first region and a third region of the energy decay curve, wherein the first region contains the energy decay curve of a first signal decay with no significant signal components, a second region contains the energy decay curve of the direct signal part (d), and the third region contains the energy decay curve of an indirect signal component of the reverberations part (r), further wherein the step is indicative of an amplitude of the direct part (d) relative to an amplitude of the reverberations part (r) of the signal (y).