In a method for coding of information for enhancing a background noise representation, voice activity of an input speech signal is determined. A noisiness parameter is determined for an inactive speech signal, wherein the noisiness parameter is based on a ratio of prediction gains of two Linear Predictive Coder (LPC) prediction filters with different orders. The noisiness parameter is quantized, and the quantized noisiness parameter is encoded for transmission.

Provided are an audio encoding method and apparatus and an audio decoding method and apparatus in which audio signals can be encoded or decoded so that sound images can be localized at any desired position for each object audio signal. The audio decoding method generating a third downmix signal by combining a first downmix signal extracted from a first audio signal and a second downmix signal extracted from a second audio signal; generating third object-based side information by combining first object-based side information extracted from the first audio signal and second object-based side information extracted from the second audio signal; converting the third object-based side information into channel-based side information; and generating a multi-channel audio signal using the third downmix signal and the channel-based side information.

Provided are an audio encoding method and apparatus and an audio decoding method and apparatus in which audio signals can be encoded or decoded so that sound images can be localized at any desired position for each object audio signal. The audio decoding method generating a third downmix signal by combining a first downmix signal extracted from a first audio signal and a second downmix signal extracted from a second audio signal; generating third object-based side information by combining first object-based side information extracted from the first audio signal and second object-based side information extracted from the second audio signal; converting the third object-based side information into channel-based side information; and generating a multi-channel audio signal using the third downmix signal and the channel-based side information.

A frame loss compensation processing method and apparatus is presented, where the method includes, when a i.sup.th frame is a lost frame, estimating a spectrum frequency parameter, a pitch period, and a gain of the i.sup.th frame according to at least one of an inter-frame relationship between first N frames of the i.sup.th frame or an intra-frame relationship between first N frames of the i.sup.th frame. A parameter of the i.sup.th frame is determined using the signal correlation between the first N frames, the signal energy stability between the first N frames, intra-frame signal correlation of each frame, and intra-frame signal energy stability of each frame.

A frame loss compensation processing method and apparatus is presented, where the method includes, when a i.sup.th frame is a lost frame, estimating a spectrum frequency parameter, a pitch period, and a gain of the i.sup.th frame according to at least one of an inter-frame relationship between first N frames of the i.sup.th frame or an intra-frame relationship between first N frames of the i.sup.th frame. A parameter of the i.sup.th frame is determined using the signal correlation between the first N frames, the signal energy stability between the first N frames, intra-frame signal correlation of each frame, and intra-frame signal energy stability of each frame.

Disclosed is an LPC residual signal encoding/decoding apparatus of an MDCT based unified voice and audio encoding device. The LPC residual signal encoding apparatus analyzes a property of an input signal, selects an encoding method of an LPC filtered signal, and encode the LPC residual signal based on one of a real filterbank, a complex filterbank, and an algebraic code excited linear prediction (ACELP).

Disclosed is an LPC residual signal encoding/decoding apparatus of an MDCT based unified voice and audio encoding device. The LPC residual signal encoding apparatus analyzes a property of an input signal, selects an encoding method of an LPC filtered signal, and encode the LPC residual signal based on one of a real filterbank, a complex filterbank, and an algebraic code excited linear prediction (ACELP).

A voice decoding apparatus includes an MBE-type decoder, a sampling convertor, a non-linear components generator and an adder. The decoder decodes digital voice-encoded information to generate a first decoded voice signal. The convertor converts the first decoded voice signal to a second decoded voice signal with a higher sampling frequency. The generator performs a non-linear process to the first or second decoded voice signal to generate an additional voice signal with the same sampling frequency as the second decoded voice signal. The additional voice signal has components in a frequency band in which the first decoded voice signal has no component and continuing to another frequency band of the first decoded voice signal. The adder adds the second decoded voice signal to the additional voice signal.

A voice decoding apparatus includes an MBE-type decoder, a sampling convertor, a non-linear components generator and an adder. The decoder decodes digital voice-encoded information to generate a first decoded voice signal. The convertor converts the first decoded voice signal to a second decoded voice signal with a higher sampling frequency. The generator performs a non-linear process to the first or second decoded voice signal to generate an additional voice signal with the same sampling frequency as the second decoded voice signal. The additional voice signal has components in a frequency band in which the first decoded voice signal has no component and continuing to another frequency band of the first decoded voice signal. The adder adds the second decoded voice signal to the additional voice signal.

Disclosed is an LPC residual signal encoding/decoding apparatus of an MDCT based unified voice and audio encoding device. The LPC residual signal encoding apparatus analyzes a property of an input signal, selects an encoding method of an LPC filtered signal, and encode the LPC residual signal based on one of a real filterbank, a complex filterbank, and an algebraic code excited linear prediction (ACELP).