Patent Application: US-201715608224-A

Abstract:
an audio processing device comprises a ) at least one input unit for providing time - frequency representation y of an electric input signal representing sound consisting of target speech and noise signal components , where k and n are frequency band and time frame indices , respectively , b ) a noise detection and / or reduction system configured to b1 ) determine an a posteriori signal to noise ratio estimate γ of said electric input signal , and to b2 ) determine an a priori target signal to noise signal ratio estimate ζ of said electric input signal from said a posteriori signal to noise ratio estimate γ based on a recursive decision directed algorithm . the application further relates to a method of of estimating an a priori signal to noise ratio . the invention may e . g . be used for the hearing aids , headsets , ear phones , active ear protection systems , handsfree telephone systems , mobile telephones , etc .

Description:
the detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations . the detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts . however , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details . several aspects of the apparatus and methods are described by various blocks , functional units , modules , components , circuits , steps , processes , algorithms , etc . ( collectively referred to as “ elements ”). depending upon particular application , design constraints or other reasons , these elements may be implemented using electronic hardware , computer program , or any combination thereof the electronic hardware may include microprocessors , microcontrollers , digital signal processors ( dsps ), field programmable gate arrays ( fpgas ), programmable logic devices ( plds ), gated logic , discrete hardware circuits , and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure . computer program shall be construed broadly to mean instructions , instruction sets , code , code segments , program code , programs , subprograms , software modules , applications , software applications , software packages , routines , subroutines , objects , executables , threads of execution , procedures , functions , etc ., whether referred to as software , firmware , middleware , microcode , hardware description language , or otherwise . the present application relates to the field of hearing devices , e . g . hearing aids . speech enhancement and noise reduction can be obtained by applying a fast - varying gain in the time - frequency domain . the objective of applying the fast - varying gain is to maintain time - frequency tiles dominated by speech unaltered while the time - frequency tiles dominated by noise is suppressed . hereby , the resulting modulation of the enhanced signal increases , and will typically become similar to the modulation of the original speech signal , leading to a higher speech intelligibility . let us assume that the observed signal y ( t ) is the sum of target speech signal x ( t ) and noise v ( t ), ( e . g . picked up by a microphone or a number of microphones ) processed in an analysis filter bank ( fba ; fba ,, fba 2 ) to yield frequency sub - band signals y kn ( y ( n , k )) corresponding to frequency k ( the frequency index k is dropped from here on for simplicity of notation ) and time frame n ( cf . e . g . fig1 a , 1b ). for example , y n may comprise ( or consist of ) complex coefficients obtained from a dft filter bank . spectral speech enhancement methods rely on estimating the amount of target signal ( x ) compared to the amount of noise ( n ) in each time - frequency tile , i . e . the signal - to - noise ( snr ) ratio . in spectral noise reduction , snr is typically described using two different terms : 1 ) the a posteriori snr defined as where { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 is an estimate of the noise spectral density ( noise spectral power variance ) in the n th time frame , and 2 ) the a priori snr defined as where | x n | 2 is the target signal spectral density . the a posteriori snr requires an estimate of the noise power spectral density { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 , while the a priori snr requires access to both speech ( x n | 2 ) and noise power ({ circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 ) spectral densities . if the a priori snr is available , we can for each unit in time and frequency find an estimate of the target signal as which represents a wiener gain approach . other snr to gain functions may be used , though . the terms ‘ a posteriori ’ and ‘ a priori ’ signal - to - noise - ratio are e . g . used in [ 4 ]. fig1 a shows a single - channel noise reduction unit , wherein a single microphone ( m ) receives a mixture y ( t ) of target sound ( x ) and noise ( v ), and fig1 b illustrates a multi - channel noise reduction unit , wherein a multitude of microphone ( s ) ( m 1 , m 2 ) receive a mixture y ( t ) of target sound ( x ) and noise ( v ). in the present disclosure it is assumed that analogue to digital conversion units are applied as appropriate to provide digitized electric input signals from the microphones . likewise , it is assumed that digital to analogue conversion unit ( s ) is / are applied to output signals , if appropriate ( e . g . to signals that are to be converted to acoustic signals by a loudspeaker ). the mixture ( s ) is / are transformed into the frequency domain by respective analysis filter banks ( denoted fba ( analysis ) and fba 1 ( analysis ), fba 2 ( analysis ) in fig1 a and 1b , respectively ) and obtaining the signal y ( n , k ) ( denoted y ( n , k ) and y ( n , k ) 1 , y ( n , k ) 2 in fig1 a and 1b , respectively ). in each case , the a posteriori snr γ ( a posteriori snr , γ n in fig1 a and 1b ) is found as the ratio between the power spectral density | y n | 2 ( provided by respective magnitude squared calculation units |·| 2 ) containing the target signal and an estimate of noise power spectral density { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 ( denoted & lt ; σ 2 & gt ; in fig1 a , 1 b , and provided by respective noise estimation units nt ) within the mixture ( cf . combination unit ‘·/·’ in fig1 a , 1b ). in the case of more than one microphone ( e . g . fig1 b ), the noise within the mixture may be reduced by a linear combination of the microphone signals y ( n , k )= w ( k ) 1 · y ( n , k ) 1 + w ( k ) 2 · y ( n , k ) 2 , and the remaining noise may be better estimated by using another linear combination ( n ( n , k )) of the microphone signals aiming at cancelling the target signal , n ( n , k )= w ( k ) 3 · y ( n , k ) 1 + w ( k ) 4 · y ( n , k ) 2 , as indicated by output signals from the beam former filtering unit bfu in fig1 b . the a priori signal to noise ratio ( a priori snr , ζ n in fig1 a , 1b ) is determined by conversion unit po2pr implementing an algorithm according to the present disclosure , which is further described in the following . the a priori snr may e . g . be converted to a gain in an optional snr to gain conversion unit snr2g providing a resulting current noise reduction gain g nr ( e . g . based on a wiener gain function ), which may be applied to the signal y ( n , k ) ( input signal in fig1 a and spatially filtered signal in fig1 b ) in combination unit ‘ x ’ to provide noise reduced signal y nr ( n , k ). given that an estimate of the noise power density { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 ( denoted & lt ; σ 2 & gt ; in fig1 a , 1 b ) is available , we can find the a posteriori snr directly ( cf . combination ( here division ) unit ‘·/·’ in fig1 a , 1b ). as we typically do not have access to the target power spectral density ( a n 2 ), a n being an estimate of the unknown target magnitude | x n |, we do not have direct access to the a priori snr . in order to estimate the a priori snr , the decision directed ( dd ) algorithm has been proposed [ 1 ]: where â n is the an estimate of the target signal magnitude ( in the n th time frame ), { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 is the noise spectral variance ( power spectral density ) at the frequency in question , and α is a weighting factor . the above expression is a linear combination of two estimates of the a priori snr ξ n :( becuase γ − 1 =(| y | 2 / σ 2 )− 1 ==(| y | 2 − σ 2 )/ σ 2 )˜ ζ ) a recursive part ( since â n generally depends on ξ n ) and 2 ) a non - recursive part max ( 0 , γ n − 1 ). the weighting parameter α is typically chosen in the interval 0 . 94 - 0 . 99 , but obviously α may depend on the frame rate , and possibly other parameters . the noise estimate { circumflex over ( σ )} n 2 is assumed to be available from a spectral noise estimator , e . g . a noise tracker ( cf . e . g . [ 2 ] ep2701145a1 [ 3 ]), e . g . using a voice activity detector and a level estimator ( estimating noise levels when no voice is detected ; working in frequency sub - bands ). the speech magnitude estimate â n is obtained using a speech estimator , of which several are available . generally , the speech estimator can be represented by the corresponding gain function g the gain function can be chosen depending on a cost function or objective to be minimized , and on the statistical assumptions w . r . t . the speech and noise processes . well - known examples are the stsa gain function [ 1 ], lsa [ 4 ], mosie [ 5 ], wiener , and spectral subtraction gain functions [ 5 ], [ 7 ]. while stsa ( stsa = minimum - mean square error short - time spectral amplitude estimator ), lsa , and mosie depend on both the ( estimated ) a priori snr ξ n and the a posteriori snr the wiener and spectral subtraction gain functions are one - dimensional and depend only on ξ n . as described in [ 5 ], â n can be estimated using the following equation known as the mosie estimator : where γ (.) is the gamma function , φ ( a , b ; x ) is the confluent hypergeometric function and the lsa estimator ( cf . e . g . [ 4 ]) can be well approached having β = 0 . 001 and μ = 1 ( cf . e . g . [ 5 ]). the a priori snr estimated by the decision - directed approach is thus a smoothed version of max ( 0 , γ n − 1 ) depending on the smoothing factor βas well as the chosen estimator for obtaining â n . as mentioned above , a may depend on the frame rate . in an embodiment , the decision directed approach as originally proposed in [ 1 ] is designed with frames shifted every 8 th millisecond ( ms ). in hearing instruments , the frames are typically updated with a much higher frame rate ( e . g . every single millisecond ). this higher oversampling factor of the filter bank allows the system to react much faster ( e . g . in order to better maintain speech onsets ). this advantage of a possible faster reaction time cannot fully be achieved just by adjusting a according to the higher frame rate . instead we propose a method , which is better at taking advantage of a higher oversampling factor . as a first simplification , we consider a slightly modified algorithm , which we will refer to as dd *. the recursion in dd * is changed to depend only on the current frame observations and on the previous a priori estimate : the effect on the a priori estimates by this modification can be quantified by numerical simulations ( see later sections ), where the effect is found to be generally small , albeit audible . in fact , using the most recent frame power for the a posteriori snr in the gain function seems beneficial for snr estimation at speech onsets . now , consider the maximum likelihood snr estimator , which expresses the snr value with highest likelihood ; we make here the standard assumptions that the noise and speech processes are uncorrelated gaussian processes , and that the spectral coefficients are independent across time and frequency [ 1 ]. then , the maximum likelihood snr estimator ξ n ml is given by : note that the maximum likelihood estimator is not a central estimator because its mean differs from the true value . in this case an example of a central estimator is fig2 shows & lt ; the mean value of the maximum likelihood estimator ξ n ml in [ db ] as a function of the true snr in [ db ], illustrating the bias , which is introduced by the one - way rectification in the maximum likelihood a priori snr estimate ξ n ml = max ( ξ min ml , γ n − 1 ). the target signal is assumed gaussian . for noise - only input , the estimated snr equals ξ ml = e − 1 ≈− 4 . 3 db ( assuming that ξ min ml = 0 , cf . also [ 5 ]), cf . bias in fig2 . one effect of the dd approach is to provide a compensation for this bias . in the following a functional approximation of the dd * algorithm in equation ( 5 ) is proposed . for mathematical convenience , we assume in the following that and derive such an approximation . this assumption simplifies the non - recursive part because ξ n = max ( 0 , γ n − 1 ) simplifies to ξ n = γ n − 1 and γ n = ξ n + 1 . it can be shown that the impact ( on results ) of this assumption is indeed minor . thus , ignoring the cases , where the dd * algorithm in equation ( 5 ) can be described as the following function of ξ n ml the function ψ maps out the relative change in the a priori estimate as function of the ratio between the current ξ n ml and the previous a priori snr estimate ξ n − 1 . we thus have by representing the snr ratios on a logarithmic ( db ) scale , the above relationship expresses the non - linear input - output relationship represented by the dd *- algorithm . fig3 shows & lt ; an input - output relationship ( δoutput = f ( δinput )) of the dd *- algorithm by numerical evaluation of equation ( 7 ) for the stsa [ 1 ] gain function ( with α = 0 . 98 ). at low a priori snr estimates ( e . g ., curve labeled − 30 db ), smoothing is in effect since small changes in output for moderate input changes . furthermore , a bias is introduced — seen by the non - zero abscissa zero crossings — resulting in the average estimated a priori snr being lower than the average maximum likelihood snr estimate . although the term “ bias ” is often used to reflect a difference between an expected value e ( ) and a “ true ” reference value , the term is here used to reflect the difference between expected values e ( ξ n ml ) and e ( ξ n ). fig3 gives a graphical relationship allowing the determination of a difference between ( or ratio of ) the current a priori snr estimate ζ n and the previous a priori snr estimate ζ n − 1 ( output ) from knowledge of the difference between ( or ratio of ) the current maximum - likelihood estimates ξ n ml and the previous a priori snr estimate ζ n − 1 ( and the absolute value of the previous a priori snr estimate ξ n − 1 ) ( input ). fig3 shows this relationship , revealing two noticeable effects : for low a priori snr values ( e . g . the curve labelled ζ n − 1 =− 30 db ), the output changes are smaller than the input changes , effectively implementing a low - pass filtering / smoothing of the maximum likelihood snr estimates ξ n ml . for high a priori snr values ( ζ n − 1 =+ 30 db ), the dd * a priori snr estimate ξ n varies as much as the change in ξ n ml , resulting in a very small amount of smoothing . secondly , the zero crossings of the curves for low a priori snr values are shifted to positive db values of up to about 10 db . this means that for low snr regions , the a priori snr estimate ξ n should settle at values approximately 10 db below the average value of ξ ml . fig3 gives a graphical relationship allowing the determination of a difference between ( or ratio of ) the current a priori snr estimate ζ n and the previous a priori snr estimate ζ n − 1 ( output ) from knowledge of the difference between ( or ratio of ) the current maximum - likelihood estimate ξ n ml and the previous a priori snr estimate ζ n − 1 ( and the absolute value of the previous a priori snr estimate ζ n − 1 ) ( input ). values of a smoothing parameter ( λ dd ) and a bias parameter ( ρ ) to be discussed below can be read from the graphs as indicated in fig3 for graphs relating to a priory snr ζ n − 1 =− 30 db , ζ n − 1 = 0 db , and ζ n − 1 =+ 30 db . the bias parameter ρ is found as the zero - crossing of the graph with the horizontal axis . the smoothing parameter λ dd is found as the slope indicated as α (·) of the graph in question at the zero crossing . these values are e . g . extracted and stored in a table for relevant values of the a priori snr , cf . e . g . mapping unit map in fig4 . fig4 shows a diagram of an exemplary implementation of the proposed directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa ) implemented in the conversion unit po2pr . fig4 shows a diagram of the proposed directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa , implemented by unit po2pr ), the aim of which is to provide a configurable alternative implementation of the dd approach , encompassing three main effects of dd 1 . an snr - dependent smoothing , allowing for more smoothing in low snr conditions reducing musical noise . 2 . a negative bias compared to ξ n ml for low snr conditions , reducing audibility of musical noise in noise - only periods . 3 . a recursive bias , allowing fast switching from low - to - high and high - to - low snr conditions . the dbsa algorithm operates with snr estimates in the db domain ; thus , introduce the central part of the embodiment of the proposed algorithm is a 1 st order iir low pass filter with unit dc - gain , and an adaptive time constant . the two functions λ ( s n ) and ρ ( s n ) control the amount of smoothing and the amount of snr bias , as a recursive function of the estimated snr . in the following we will derive the controlling functions so as to mimic the input - output relationship of the dd system described above . let s n and s n ml be the a priori and maximum likelihood snr expressed in db , and ignoring the max - operation ( let κ →∞ for now ) the dbsa input - output relationship is defined by s n − s n − 1 =( s n ml + ρ ( s n − 1 )− s n − 1 ) λ ( s n − 1 ) ( 9 ) in order to fully specify the dbsa in ( 10 ), the bias function ρ ( s n ) and the smoothing function λ ( s n ) must be specified . since our goal is to mimic the behavior of the dd * approach , we could e . g . measure the zero - crossing location and the slope at this location of the function ( evaluated as a function of ξ n ml ), and choose the functions ρ ( s n ) and λ ( s n ) to have the same values . thus , for the bias function ρ ( s n ) we choose it to be equal to the value of likewise , the smoothing function λ ( s n − 1 ) can be set to equal the slope ( w . r . t . s n ml ) of the curves in fig3 at the location of its 0 db crossing ( i . e . when s n ml − s n =− ρ ( s n − 1 )). fig4 shows an implementation of the directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa ) alternative to the dd - approach . the dashed box in the upper right part of fig4 represents a 1 st order iir low - pass filter with unit dc - gain and variable smoothing coefficient λ ( λ n − 1 in fig4 ). this part together with combination unit ‘+’ ( providing signal s n ml − ρ n − 1 ) and mapping unit map ( providing smoothing and bias parameters λ , ρ , respectively ) providing the inputs to the 1 st order iir low - pass filter implements equation 10 below ( cf . indication ‘ from eq . ( 10 )’ in fig4 ). the two mapping functions λ ( s ) and ρ ( s ) ( cf . mapping unit map ) control the amount of smoothing ( λ ) and bias ( ρ ), respectively , as a recursive function of the estimated a priori snr ( s n − 1 ( ζ n − 1 ) in fig4 ). the left part of fig4 providing the maximum likelihood value ζ n ml of the a priori signal to noise ratio of the n th time frame implements equation ( 6 ) above ( cf . indication ‘ from eq . ( 6 )’ in fig4 ). the maximum likelihood value ζ n ml of the a priori signal to noise ratio is converted to the logarithmic domain by the ‘ db ’ unit . the mapping unit map is e . g . implemented as a memory comprising a look - up table with values of smoothing and bias parameters λ and ρ extracted from fig3 ( or equivalent data material ) ( cf . indication ‘ from fig3 ’ in fig4 ) for relevant values of the a priori snr ζ ( e . g . for a larger range of ζ and / or for a larger number of values , e . g . one curve for every 5 db , or one for every db ). an implementation of an algorithm for ( off - line ) calculation of the relevant smoothing and bias parameters λ and ρ for storage in a memory of the mapping unit map is illustrated in fig5 . the embodiment of fig4 additionally comprises the bypass branch for larger values of the current maximum - likelihood value s n ml ( ζ n ml ) of the a priori snr , implemented by unit bps . the bypass unit bps comprises combination unit ‘+’ and maximum operator unit ‘ max ’. the combination unit ‘+’ takes bypass parameter κ as input . the value of κ is subtracted from the current maximum - likelihood value s n ml and the resulting value s n ml − κ is fed to the maximum unit max together with the previous value s n − 1 of the a priori snr . thereby relatively large values ( larger than s n − 1 + κ ) of the current maximum - likelihood value s n ml ( ζ n ml ) of the a priori snr are allowed to have immediate impact on the input to the mapping unit map . in an embodiment , the bypass parameter κ is frequency dependent ( i . e . e . g . different for different frequency channels k ) . fig5 shows how bias parameter p and smoothing parameter λ may be derived from the parameters of the decision directed approach ( cf . equation 5 ). fig5 shows an embodiment of an algorithm for generating relevant data to the mapping unit map in fig4 . the algorithm determines bias parameter ρ and smoothing parameter from the current maximum - likelihood value s n ml ( ζ n ml ) of the a priori snr , and the previous a priori snr value s n − 1 . contrary to having a single mapping of ρ and λ , we may choose to have different sets of ρ and λ depending on whether the input is increasing or decreasing . that corresponds to having different attack and release values for ρ and λ . such sets of parameters could be derived from different values of α corresponding to different attack and release times ( and subsequently stored in the mapping unit map ). as mentioned later , a compensation of the smoothing parameter to take account of a frame rate ( or frame length ) different from the one used in the lsa approach [ 4 ] is preferably implemented ( so that the values of the smoothing parameter λ stored in the mapping unit are directly applicable ). this is further discussed below , e . g . in relation to fig8 . fig6 a shows the slope λ and fig6 b shows the zero crossing p of the function for the stsa gain function [ 1 ], using α = 0 . 98 in both cases . fig7 shows a comparison of the responses of the dbsa algorithm according to the present disclosure ( crosses ) and the dd - algorithm ( lines ) using the fitted functions in fig6 a and 6b , where the curves represent a priori snr values ranging from − 30 db to + 30 db in 5 db steps . fig6 shows the results from numerical evaluation , and fig7 shows a comparison between the input - output responses of the dd *- algorithm and the dbsa algorithm . the difference is seen to be quite small in most cases , as shown in the simulations in a later section . in dbsa , this case is caught by the minimum value ξ min ml , which limits the influence . recalling equation ( 2 ), we note that the class of gain functions that can be expressed as a power of the wiener gain function generally have that â n → 0 when this property makes the dd - algorithm bias quite large and negative , which can be mimicked in dbsa with a relatively low value of ξ min ml . on the other hand , for the stsa , lsa and mosie gain functions , a gain larger than 0 db occurs when resulting in a non - zero â n in the limit . this effect can to some extent by handled by a larger ξ min ml . in practice the remaining difference between the dd * approach and dbsa can be made to be negligible . it should be noted that in some cases ( typically for low a priori snr values ) the function does not have a zero crossing . this reflects a limitation in the range of actual a priori snr values that the system can produce . one narficular examnle occurs when the gain function is limited by some minimum gain value g min . inserting this minimum value into equation ( 5 ) it can easily be shown that so when ξ n − 1 is sufficiently low , the function ψ will be greater than 1 , which again means no zero crossing for the function 10 log 10 ψ . a numerical implementation will need to detect this situation and specify some reasonable lookup table values for ρ ( s n ) and λ ( s n ) all the same . the exact values used will not matter in reality since they most likely will only be sampled during convergence from an initial state . in fig4 , a maximum operator is located in the recursive loop , allowing the maximum likelihood snr estimate to bypass the a priori estimate of the previous frame in the calculation of the bias and smoothing parameters ( via parameter κ ). the reason for this element is to aid the detection of snr onsets and thus reducing the risk over - attenuation of speech onsets . in the dd approach equation ( 1 ), the term ( 1 − α ) allows for large onsets in the current frame to reduce the negative bias quickly , the maximum mimics this behavior as controlled by the parameter κ . we thus have the ability to bypass the smoothing using the factor κ . by increasing κ we may better maintain the speech onsets . on the other hand , an increased κ may also raise the noise floor . an increased noised noise floor will however only have influence when we apply a high amount of attenuation . thus the selected value of k depends on the chosen maximum attenuation . instead of the maximum operator (‘ max ’ in fig4 and 8 ), a more general selection scheme may be used to identify ( sudden ) snr - changes ( e . g . onsets ), cf . e . g . ‘ select ’ unit in the embodiments illustrated in fig1 a , 12b and 12c . such more general schemes may e . g . include consideration of events ( changes ) in the acoustic environment ( e . g . sudden appearance or removal of noise sources ( e . g . wind noise ), or sudden changes in other acoustic sources such as speech sources , e . g . own voice ), cf . e . g . fig1 a and / or include consideration of changes in the signal over a number of frequency bands around the frequency bands considered ( e . g . evaluating all frequency bands and applying a logic criterion to provide a resulting onset flag for the frequency band in question ), cf . e . g . fig1 b . the filter bank parameters have a large influence on the result of the dd approach . oversampling is the major parameter to consider , since it has a direct effect on the effect of the smoothing and amount of bias introduced into the a priori snr estimate . how to correct for filter bank oversampling in the dd approach has not been well described in the literature . in the original formulation [ 1 ], a 256 - point fft was used with a hanning window , with 192 samples overlap corresponding to four - fold oversampling , and a sample rate of 8 khz . in general , two - fold oversampling ( 50 % frame overlap ) is usual , see [ 1 ] and the references therein . in hearing aids and other low - latency applications , however , oversampling by a factor of 16 or higher is not unrealistic . all things equal , oversampling reduces the recursive effects of the dd - approach , as well as of the dbsa method . in the limit of “ infinite ” oversampling , the recursive bias is replaced with the asymptotic bias function . one possible approach for oversampling compensation is to downsample the dd / dbsa estimation by a factor proportional to the oversampling , keeping the priori estimate constant over a number of frames . a drawback of this approach may be that gain jumps are introduced , which may reduce sound quality when used in combination with an oversampled filter bank . with oversampling , the equivalent synthesis filters are shorter and may be insufficient for attenuation of the convolutive noise introduced by the gain jumps . with the dbsa method , the temporal behavior ( i . e . smoothing of snr estimates and responsiveness to onsets ) is controlled by the combination of the directed recursive smoothing , the directed recursive bias . a more computationally demanding but in theory more precise way of handling filter bank oversampling is by means of a higher order delay element ( circular buffer ) in the recursive loop , as shown in fig8 . fig8 illustrates a modification of the dbsa algorithm ( shown in fig4 ) to accommodate filter bank oversampling , where the purpose of inserting an additional d - frame delay in the recursive loop is to mimic the dynamic behavior of a system with less oversampling . compared to the embodiment of the dbsa algorithm exemplified in fig4 and 8 , the embodiments illustrated in fig1 a , 12b and 12c are different in that the max operator has been substituted by a select operator ( select ), which can e . g . be controlled by an onset flag ( onset flag ). contrary to the max operator , which only influences the local frequency channel k , an onset flag may depend on a number of ‘ control inputs ’ qualified according to a , e . g . predefined or adaptive ( e . g . logic ), scheme ( cf . e . g . fig1 a ), and / or including other frequency channels as well ( cf . e . g . fig1 b ). in an embodiment , the bypass parameter ic is frequency dependent ( i . e . e . g . different for different frequency channels k ). fig1 a shows a diagram of a first further exemplary implementation of the proposed directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa , e . g . as implemented by unit po2pr in fig1 a , 1b , and 9b ). contrary to the max operator , which only influences the local frequency channel k , an onset flag may depend on other frequency channels as well ( cf . e . g . fig1 b ). the advantage of an onset flag is ( assuming that onsets affects many frequency channels simultaneously ) that the onset information which is detected in the few frequency channels having high snr may be propagated to the frequency channels having a lower snr . hereby onset information may be applied faster in the low - snr frequency channels . in an embodiment , a broad band onset detector can be used as well as the onset flag for a given frequency channel k ( or as an input to a criterion for determining the onset flag ). alternatively , if e . g . the bias corrected latest ( maximum likelihood (‘ a priori ’) estimate of the ) snr value s n ml − κ in a number of the k frequency channels ( e . g . the channel in question k and the neighboring channels on each side ( e . g . k − 1 , k + 1 , cf . fig1 b ) is higher than the previous (‘ a priori ’) snr value s n − 1 , it is an indication of an onset . other frequency channels than the immediately neighboring channels and / or other onset indications may be considered in the determination of the onset flag for a given frequency channel k . in an embodiment , the onset flag in a particular frequency channel k is determined in dependence on whether local onsets have been detected in at least q channels , where q is a number between 1 and k . fig1 b shows a diagram of a second further exemplary implementation of the proposed directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa , e . g . as implemented by unit po2pr in fig1 a , 1b , and 9b ). in addition to being dependent on the snr , λ and ρ may also depend on whether the snr is increasing or decreasing . if the snr increases , as indicated by s n ml + ρ n − 1 − s n − 1 & gt ; 0 , we choose one set of λ ( s ) and ρ ( s ), λ atk ( s ), ρ atk ( s ), and if the snr is decreasing , as indicated by s n ml + ρ n − 1 − s n − 1 & lt ; 0 , we choose another set of λ ( s ) and ρ ( s ), λ rel ( s ), ρ rel ( s ). exemplary courses of smoothing parameters λ ( s ) and ρ ( s ) are shown in fig6 a and 6b , respectively . furthermore , in another preferred embodiment , the “ select ” unit may not only depend on a detected onset . it may as well depend on a detected own voice or wind noise or any combination of the mentioned ( or other ) detectors ( cf . e . g . fig1 a ). fig1 c shows a diagram of a third further exemplary implementation of the proposed directed bias and smoothing algorithm ( dbsa , e . g . as implemented by unit po2pr in fig1 a , 1b , and 9b ). in addition to being dependent on the snr , λ and ρ may also depend on another indication that the snr is increasing or decreasing . if the snr increases , as indicated by s n ml − s n − 1 & gt ; 0 , we choose one set of λ and ρ , λ atk , ρ atk , and if the snr is decreasing , as indicated by s n ml − s n − 1 & lt ; 0 , we choose another set of λ and ρ , λ rel , ρ rel . fig1 a shows a general example of providing an onset flag for use in the embodiments of the dbsa algorithms illustrated in fig1 a , 12b , 12c . the audio processing device , e . g . a hearing aid , may comprise a number nd of detectors or indicators ( ind 1 , . . . , ind nd ) providing a number of indicators ( signals ix 1 , . . . , ix nd ) of an onset of a change of the acoustic scene around the audio processing device , which may lead to a change of the snr of the signal considered by a forward path of the audio processing device . such indicators may e . g . include a general onset detector for detecting sudden changes in the time variant input sound s ( t ) ( cf . e . g . fig9 a ), e . g . its modulation , a wind noise detector , a voice detector , e . g . an own voice detector , head movement detector , wireless transmission detector , voice detectors from microphones in other audio devices ( e . g . other hearing instrument , or external microphones in e . g . smartphones ), etc ., and combinations thereof . the outputs ( ix 1 , . . . , ix nd ) from the indicators ( ind 1 , . . . , ind nd ) are fed to the controller ( control ), which implement an algorithm for providing a resulting onset indicator ( signal onset flag ) for a given frequency channel k . a specific implementation ( or partial implementation ) of such scheme is illustrated in fig1 b . fig1 b shows an exemplary embodiment of controller ( control ) based on inputs from neighboring frequency bands providing an onset flag for possible use in the embodiments of the dbsa algorithms illustrated in fig1 a , 12b , 12c . the illustrated scheme provides input indicator signals ( ix p , . . . , ix q ) including indicators evaluating changes over time of the snr as indicated by whether s n ml ( k ′)− κ & gt ; s n − 1 ( k ′) is fulfilled over a number of frequency bands k ′ around the frequency band k considered ( e . g . evaluating the expression for k ′= k − 1 , k , and k + 1 ), or for just one of them , or ‘ two of three ’, etc ., or evaluating the expression for all frequency bands k = 1 , . . . , k , ( or a selected range , e . g . where speech and / or noise is expected to occur ) and applying a logic criterion to provide a resulting onset flag for the frequency band in question ). in an embodiment , only the immediately neighbouring bands to a given channel k are considered , i . e . three channels are included in providing the onset flag for each channel in an embodiment , such scheme is combined with inputs from other detectors as mentioned in connection with fig1 a . in an embodiment , the expression s n ml ( k ′)− κ & gt ; s n − 1 ( k ′) or other similar expressions , are evaluated for a number of frequency channels around the channel in question , e . g . all channels , and a scheme for providing a resulting onset flag is applied to the input indicators ( ix p , . . . , ix q ). the bias constant κ may be constant over frequency , or different from channel to channel , or different for some channels . the proposed implementation has the following advantages over the decision directed approach : we can adjust the smoothing parameter in order to take the filter bank oversampling into account , which is important for implementation in low - latency applications such as hearing instruments . rather than having the smoothing and bias depending on the selected gain function , the smoothing λ ( s ) and bias ρ ( s ) is directly controlled by the parameterization of the two mapping functions . this enables tuning of each of the mapping functions separately for a desired tradeoff between noise reduction and sound quality . e . g . target energy may be better maintained by over - emphasizing the bias . also , the parameters can be set in order to address a certain range of snr which is of interest . such sets of parameters may be chosen different for individual users , as some users mainly benefit from noise reduction ( in terms of a fluctuating gain ) in low - snr regions and do not need noise reduction as higher signal to noise ratios . on the other hand , other users may require noise reduction at a higher signal to noise ratio region , and a constant attenuation at low signal to noise ratios . as an extension to the proposed system , the smoothing and bias parameters may depend on whether the input is increasing or decreasing . i . e . we may use different attack and release values of the two parameters . the change of the decision directed approach to only depend on the current frame observations and on the previous a priori estimate seems beneficial for the snr estimation at speech onsets . likewise , the maximum operator controlled by the parameter κ can be used to reduce the risk of over - attenuating speech onsets . the selected value may depend on the chosen maximum attenuation pre - smoothing of the ξ n ml by a selected minimum value ξ min ml is used to cope with case the noise estimator may rely on multichannel as well as single channel inputs , or on both , and / or on binaural inputs , cf . e . g . fig1 . the dbsa parameters may be adjusted differently depending on whether the noise estimator relies on a single channel input or multi - channel inputs . fig9 a shows an embodiment of an audio processing device apd , e . g . a hearing aid , according to the present disclosure . a time variant input sound s ( t ) is assumed to comprise a mixture of a target signal component x ( t ) and a noise signal component v ( t ) is picked up by the audio processing device processed and provided in a processed for to a user as an audible signal . the audio processing device — here a hearing aid — of fig9 a comprises a multitude of input units iu j , j = 1 , . . . , m , each providing an electric input signal s i representative of sound s ( t ) in a time - frequency representation ( k , n ). in the embodiment of fig9 a , each input unit iu , comprises an input transducer it , for converting input sound s i from the environment ( as received at input unit iu i ) to an electric time - domain signal s ′ i , i = 1 , . . . , m . the input unit iu i further comprises an analysis filter bank fba i for converting the electric time - domain signal s ′ i to a number of frequency sub - band signals ( k = 1 , . . . , k ), thereby providing the electric inputs signal in a time - frequency representation s i ( k , n ). the hearing aid further comprises a multi - input noise reduction system nrs , providing a noise reduced signal y nr based on the multitude of electric input signals s i , i = 1 , . . . , m . the multi - input noise reduction system nrs comprises a multi - input beam former filtering unit bfu , a post filter unit pstf , and a control unit cont . the multi - input beam former filtering unit bfu ( and the control unit cont ) receives the multitude of electric input signals s i , i = 1 , . . . , m , and provides signals y and n . the control unit cont comprises a memory mem wherein complex weights w ij are stored . the complex weights w ij define possible pre - defined fixed beam formers of the beam former filtering unit bfu ( fed to bfu via signal w ij ), cf . e . g . fig9 b . the control unit cont further comprises one or more voice activity detectors vad for estimating whether or not a given input signal ( e . g . a given time - frequency unit of the input signal ) comprises ( or is dominated by ) a voice . respective control signals v - n1 and vn - 2 are fed to the beam former filtering unit bfu and to the post filtering unit pstf , respectively . the control unit cont receives the multitude of electric input signals s i , i = 1 , m , from input units and the signal y from the beam former filtering unit bfu . the signal y comprises an estimate of the target signal component , and the signal n comprises an estimate of the noise signal component . the ( single channel ) post filtering unit pstf receives ( spatially filtered ) target signal estimate y and ( spatially filtered ) noise signal estimate n , and provides a ( further ) noise reduced target signal estimate y nr based on knowledge of the noise extracted from the noise signal estimate n . the hearing aid further comprises a signal processing unit spu for ( further ) processing the noise reduced signal and providing a processed signal es . the signal processing unit spu may be configured to apply a level and frequency dependent shaping of the noise reduced signal y nr , e . g . to compensate for a user &# 39 ; s hearing impairment . the hearing aid further comprises a synthesis filter bank fbs for converting the processed frequency sub - band signal es to a time domain signal es , which is fed to an output unit ot for providing stimuli es ( t ) to a user as a signal perceivable as sound . in the embodiment of fig9 a , the output unit comprises a loudspeaker for presenting the processed signal es to the user as sound . the forward path from the input unit to the output unit of the hearing aid is here operated in the time - frequency domain ( processed in a number of frequency sub - bands fb k , k = 1 , . . . , k ). in another embodiment , the forward path from the input unit to the output unit of the hearing aid may be operated in the time domain . the hearing aid may further comprise a user interface and one or more detectors allowing user inputs and detector inputs to be received by the noise reduction system nrs , e . g . the beam former filtering unit bfu . an adaptive functionality of the beam former filtering unit bfu may be provided . fig9 b shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a noise reduction system nrs , e . g . for use in the exemplary audio processing device of fig9 a ( for m = 2 ), e . g . a hearing aid , according to the present disclosure . an exemplary embodiment of the noise reduction system of fig9 a is further detailed out in fig9 b . fig9 b shows an embodiment of an adaptive beam former filtering unit ( bfu ) according to the present disclosure . the beam former filtering unit comprises first ( omni - directional ) and second ( target cancelling ) beam formers ( denoted fixed bf o and fixed bf c in fig9 b and symbolized by corresponding beam patterns ). the first and second fixed beam formers provide beam formed signals o and c , respectively , as linear combinations of first and second electric input signals s 1 and s 2 , where first and second sets of complex weighting constants ( w o1 ( k )*, w o2 ( k )*) and ( w c1 ( k )*, w c2 ( k )*) representative of the respective beam patterns are stored in memory unit ( mem ) ( cf . memory unit mem in control unit cont of fig9 a and signal w ij ). * indicates complex conjugation . the beam former filtering unit ( bfu ) further comprises an adaptive beam former ( adaptive bf , adbf ) providing adaptation constant β ada ( k ) representative of an adaptively determined beam pattern . by combining the fixed and adaptive beam formers of the beam former filtering unit bfu , a resulting ( adaptive ) estimate of the target signal y is provided as y = o − β ada c . the beam former filtering unit ( bfu ) further comprises voice activity detector vad1 providing control signal v - n1 ( e . g . based on signal o or one of the input signals s i ) indicative of whether or not ( or with what probability ) the input signal ( here o or one of s i ) comprises voice content ( e . g . speech ) that allows the adaptive beam former to update a noise estimate & lt ; σ c 2 & gt ;( here based on the target cancelling beam former c ) during time segments where no ( or a low probability of ) voice / speech is indicated by the voice activity detector vad1 . the resulting ( spatially filtered or beam formed ) target signal estimate y from the beam former filtering unit can thus be expressed as y ( k )=( w o1 *· s 1 + w o2 *· s 2 )− β ada ( k )·( w c1 *· s 1 + w c2 *· s 2 ) it may , however , be computationally advantageous just to calculate the actual resulting weights applied to each microphone signal rather than calculating the different beam formers used to achieve the resulting signal . the embodiment of a post filtering unit pstf in fig9 b receives input signals y ( spatially filtered target signal estimate ) and & lt ; σ c 2 & gt ;( noise power spectrum estimate ) and provides output signal y bf ( noise reduced target signal estimate ) based thereon . the post filtering unit pstf comprises noise reduction correction unit n - cor for improving the noise power spectrum estimate & lt ; σ c 2 & gt ; received from the beam former filtering unit and providing an improved noise power spectrum estimate & lt ; σ 2 & gt ;. the improvement results from the use of voice activity detector vad2 to indicate the presence of no - voice time - frequency units in the spatially filtered target signal estimate y ( cf . signal v - n2 ). the post filtering unit pstf further comprises magnitude square (|·| 2 ) and divide (·/·) processing units for providing the target signal power spectrum estimate | y | 2 and a posteriori signal to noise ratio γ =| y | 2 /& lt ; σ 2 & gt ; respectively . the post filtering unit pstf further comprises a conversion unit po2pr for converting the a posteriori signal to noise ratio estimate γ to an a priori signal to noise ratio estimate ζ implementing an algorithm according to the present disclosure . the post filtering unit pstf further comprises a conversion unit snr2g configured to convert the a priori signal to noise ratio estimate ζ to a corresponding gain g nr to be applied to the spatially filtered target signal estimate ( here by multiplication unit ‘ x ’) to provide the resulting noise reduced target signal estimate y bf . frequency and time indices k and n are not shown in fig9 b for simplicity . but it is assumed that corresponding time frames are available for the processed signals , e . g . | y n | 2 , & lt ; σ n 2 & gt ;, γ n , ζ n , g nr , n , etc .). the multi - input noise reduction system comprising a multi - input beam former filtering unit bfu and a single channel post filtering unit pstf may e . g . be implemented as discussed in [ 2 ] with the modifications proposed in the present disclosure . the noise power spectrum & lt ; σ 2 & gt ; is in the embodiment of fig9 b based on the two microphone beam former ( the target cancelling beam former c ), but may instead be based on a single - channel noise estimate , e . g . based on an analysis of modulation ( e . g . a voice activity detector ). fig1 illustrates an input stage ( e . g . of a hearing aid ) comprising microphones m 1 and m 2 electrically connected to respective analysis filter banks fba 1 and fba 2 and providing respective mixed electric input frequency sub - band signals y ( n , k ) 1 , y ( n , k ) 2 , as described in connection with fig1 b . the electric input signals y ( n , k ) 1 , y ( n , k ) 2 , based on the first and second microphone signals , are fed to a multi - input ( here 2 ) a posteriori signal to noise calculation unit ( apsnr - m ) for providing multi - input a posteriori snr γ n , m ( for the n th time frame ), e . g . as discussed in connection with fig1 b above . one of the two electric input signals y ( n , k ) 1 , y ( n , k ) 2 , or a third different electric input signal ( e . g . beamformed signal or a signal based on a third microphone , e . g . a microphone of a contra - lateral hearing aid or of a separate microphone ) is fed to a single - input a posteriori signal to noise calculation unit ( apsnr - s ) for providing single - input a posteriori snr γ n , s ( for the n th time frame ), e . g . as discussed in connection with fig1 a above . the two a posteriori snrs γ n , m and γ n , s are fed to mixing unit mix for generation of a combined ( resulting ) a posteriori signal to noise ratio γ n , res from the two a posteriori signal to noise ratios . the combination of two independent a posteriori estimates will typically provide a better estimate than each of the estimates alone . as the multichannel estimate γ n , m typically is more reliable than the single channel estimate γ n , s , the multichannel estimate will require less smoothing compared to the single input channel noise estimate . thus , different sets of the smoothing parameters ρ ( bias ), λ ( smoothing ), and κ ( bias ) ( cf . fig3 ) are required for smoothing of the multi microphone a posteriori snr estimate γ n , m and the single microphone a posteriori snr estimate γ n , s . the mixing of the two estimates to provide the resulting a posteriori snr estimate γ n , res could e . g . be provide as a weighted sum of the two estimates γ n , m , γ n , s . in an embodiment of a binaural hearing aid system , either the a posteriori snr , the a priori snr , or the noise estimate or the gain from the hearing instrument on the contralateral side is transmitted to and used in the hearing instrument on the ips - ilateral side . besides the a posteriori estimate from the ipsi - lateral hearing instrument , the a priori estimate may also depend on the a posteriori estimate , the a priori , or the noise estimate ( or gain estimate ) from the contra - lateral hearing instrument . again , an improved a priori snr estimate can be achieved by combining different independent snr estimates . fig1 shows an embodiment of a hearing aid according to the present disclosure comprising a bte - part located behind an ear or a user and an ite part located in an ear canal of the user . fig1 illustrates an exemplary hearing aid ( hd ) formed as a receiver in the ear ( rite ) type hearing aid comprising a bte - part ( bte ) adapted for being located behind pinna and a part ( ite ) comprising an output transducer ( e . g . a loudspeaker / receiver , spk ) adapted for being located in an ear canal ( ear canal ) of the user ( e . g . exemplifying a hearing aid ( hd ) as shown in fig9 a ). the bte - part ( bte ) and the ite - part ( ite ) are connected ( e . g . electrically connected ) by a connecting element ( ic ). in the embodiment of a hearing aid of fig1 , the bte part ( bte ) comprises two input transducers ( here microphones ) ( m bte1 , m bte2 ) each for providing an electric input audio signal representative of an input sound signal ( s bte ) from the environment ( in the scenario of fig1 , from sound source s ). the hearing aid of fig1 further comprises two wireless receivers ( wlr 1 , wlr 2 ) for providing respective directly received auxiliary audio and / or information signals . the hearing aid ( hd ) further comprises a substrate ( sub ) whereon a number of electronic components are mounted , functionally partitioned according to the application in question ( analogue , digital , passive components , etc . ), but including a configurable signal processing unit ( spu ), a beam former filtering unit ( bfu ), and a memory unit ( mem ) coupled to each other and to input and output units via electrical conductors wx . the mentioned functional units ( as well as other components ) may be partitioned in circuits and components according to the application in question ( e . g . with a view to size , power consumption , analogue vs digital processing , etc . ), e . g . integrated in one or more integrated circuits , or as a combination of one or more integrated circuits and one or more separate electronic components ( e . g . inductor , capacitor , etc .). the configurable signal processing unit ( spu ) provides an enhanced audio signal ( cf . signal es in fig9 a ), which is intended to be presented to a user . in the embodiment of a hearing aid device in fig1 , the ite part ( ite ) comprises an output unit in the form of a loudspeaker ( receiver ) ( spk ) for converting the electric signal ( es in fig9 a ) to an acoustic signal ( providing , or contributing to , acoustic signal s ed at the ear drum ( ear drum ). in an embodiment , the ite - part further comprises an input unit comprising an input transducer ( e . g . a microphone ) ( m ite ) for providing an electric input audio signal representative of an input sound signal s ite from the environment at or in the ear canal . in another embodiment , the hearing aid may comprise only the bte - microphones ( m bte1 , m bte2 ). in yet another embodiment , the hearing aid may comprise an input unit ( it 3 ) located elsewhere than at the ear canal in combination with one or more input units located in the bte - part and / or the ite - part . the ite - part further comprises a guiding element , e . g . a dome , ( do ) for guiding and positioning the ite - part in the ear canal of the user . the hearing aid ( hd ) exemplified in fig1 is a portable device and further comprises a battery ( bat ) for energizing electronic components of the bte - and ite - parts . the hearing aid ( hd ) comprises a directional microphone system ( beam former filtering unit ( bfu )) adapted to enhance a target acoustic source among a multitude of acoustic sources in the local environment of the user wearing the hearing aid device . in an embodiment , the directional system is adapted to detect ( such as adaptively detect ) from which direction a particular part of the microphone signal ( e . g . a target part and / or a noise part ) originates and / or to receive inputs from a user interface ( e . g . a remote control or a smartphone ) regarding the present target direction . the memory unit ( mem ) comprises predefined ( or adaptively determined ) complex , frequency dependent constants defining predefined or fixed ( or adaptively determined ‘ fixed ’) beam patterns according to the present disclosure , together defining the beamformed signal y ( cf . e . g . fig9 a , 9b ) the hearing aid of fig1 may constitute or form part of a hearing aid and / or a binaural hearing aid system according to the present disclosure . the hearing aid ( hd ) according to the present disclosure may comprise a user interface ui , e . g . as shown in fig1 implemented in an auxiliary device ( aux ), e . g . a remote control , e . g . implemented as an app in a smartphone or other portable ( or stationary ) electronic device . in the embodiment of fig1 , the screen of the user interface ( ui ) illustrates a smooth beamforming app . parameters that govern or influence the current smoothing of signal to noise ratios of a beamforming noise reduction system , here parameters ρ ( bias ), λ ( smoothing ), ( cf . discussion in connection with fig3 ) can be controlled via the smooth beamforming app ( with the subtitle : ‘ directionality . configure smoothing parameters ’). the bias parameter ρ can be set via a slider to a value between a minimum value ( e . g . 0 ) and a maximum value , e . g . 10 db . the currently set value ( here 5 db ) is shown on the screen at the location of the slider on the ( grey shaded ) bar that span the configurable range of values . likewise , the smoothing parameter λ can be set via a slider to a value between a minimum value ( e . g . 0 ) and a maximum value , e . g . 1 . the currently set value ( here 0 . 6 ) is shown on the screen at the location of the slider on the ( grey shaded ) bar that span the configurable range of values . the arrows at the bottom of the screen allow changes to a preceding and a proceeding screen of the app , and a tab on the circular dot between the two arrows brings up a menu that allows the selection of other apps or features of the device . the parameters ρ and λ related to smoothing may not necessarily be visible to the user . the sets of ρ , λ could be derived from a third parameter ( e . g . a calm to aggressive noise reduction bar or set via an environment detector ). the auxiliary device and the hearing aid are adapted to allow communication of data representative of the currently selected smoothing parameters to the hearing aid via a , e . g . wireless , communication link ( cf . dashed arrow wl2 in fig1 ). the communication link wl2 may e . g . be based on far field communication , e . g . bluetooth or bluetooth low energy ( or similar technology ), implemented by appropriate antenna and transceiver circuitry in the hearing aid ( hd ) and the auxiliary device ( aux ), indicated by transceiver unit wlr 2 in the hearing aid . the communication link may be configured to provide one - way ( e . g . app to hearing instrument ) or two way communication ( e . g . audio and / or control or information signals ). it is intended that the structural features of the devices described above , either in the detailed description and / or in the claims , may be combined with steps of the method , when appropriately substituted by a corresponding process . as used , the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” are intended to include the plural forms as well ( i . e . to have the meaning “ at least one ”), unless expressly stated otherwise . it will be further understood that the terms “ includes ,” “ comprises ,” “ including ,” and / or “ comprising ,” when used in this specification , specify the presence of stated features , integers , steps , operations , elements , and / or components , but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps , operations , elements , components , and / or groups thereof . it will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “ connected ” or “ coupled ” to another element , it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element but an intervening element may also be present , unless expressly stated otherwise . furthermore , “ connected ” or “ coupled ” as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled . as used herein , the term “ and / or ” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items . the steps of any disclosed method is not limited to the exact order stated herein , unless expressly stated otherwise . it should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” or “ an aspect ” or features included as “ may ” means that a particular feature , structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure . furthermore , the particular features , structures or characteristics may be combined as suitable in one or more embodiments of the disclosure . the previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein . various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art , and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects . the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein , but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims , wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “ one and only one ” unless specifically so stated , but rather “ one or more .” unless specifically stated otherwise , the term “ some ” refers to one or more . accordingly , the scope should be judged in terms of the claims that follow . 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