Feature Extraction for Audio Classification of Gunshots Using the Hartley Transform

Abstract

In audio classification applications, features extracted from the frequency domain representation of signals are typically focused on the magnitude spectral content, while the phase spectral content is ignored. The conventional Fourier Phase Spectrum is a highly discontinuous function; thus, it is not appropriate for feature extraction for classification applications, where function continuity is required. In this work, the sources of phase spectral discontinuities are detected, categorized and compensated, resulting in a phase spectrum with significantly reduced discontinuities. The Hartley Phase Spectrum, introduced as an alternative to the conventional Fourier Phase Spectrum, encapsulates the phase content of the signal more efficiently compared with its Fourier counterpart because, among its other properties, it does not suffer from the phase ‘wrapping ambiguities’ introduced due to the inverse tangent function employed in the Fourier Phase Spectrum computation. In the proposed feature extraction method, statistical features extracted from the Hartley Phase Spectrum are combined with statistical features extracted from the magnitude related spectrum of the signals. The experimental results show that the classification score is higher in case the magnitude and the phase related features are combined, as compared with the case where only magnitude features are used.