Packet Loss Concealment for Audio Streaming based on the GAPES and MAPES Algorithms

Packet loss in internet audio streaming applications is a well-known and difficult problem. Unless concealed, each such loss produces an annoying disturbance. In this work we present a new algorithm for audio packet loss concealment, designed for MPEG-Audio streaming, based only on the data available at the receiver. The proposed algorithm reconstructs the missing data in the DSTFT (Discrete Short-Time Fourier-Transform) domain using either the GAPES (Gapped-data Amplitude and Phase Estimation) or the MAPES (Missing-data Amplitude and Phase Estimation) algorithm. The algorithm was implemented on an MP3 coder but is also suitable for MPEG-2/4 AAC. Examined subjectively by a group of listeners, the proposed algorithm performs better than other previously reported methods, even at high loss rates.