The cepstrum: A guide to processing

Abstract

This paper is a pragmatic tutorial review of the cepstrum literature focusing on data processing. The power, complex, and phase cepstra are shown to be easily related to one another. Problems associated with phase unwrapping, linear phase components, spectrum notching, aliasing, oversampling, and extending the data sequence with zeros are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of windowing the sampled data sequence, the log spectrum, and the complex cepstrum are presented. The influence of noise upon the data processing procedures is discussed throughout the paper, but is not thoroughly analyzed. The effects of various forms of liftering the cepstrum are described. The results obtained by applying whitening and trend removal techniques to the spectrum prior to the calculation of the cepstrum are discussed. We have attempted to synthesize the results, procedures, and information peculiar to the many fields that are finding cepstrum analysis useful. In particular we discuss the interpretation and processing of data in such areas as speech, seismology, and hydroacoustics. But we must caution the reader that the paper is heavily influenced by our own experiences; specific procedures that have been found useful in one field should not be considered as totally general to other fields. It is hoped that this review will be of value to those familiar with the field and reduce the time required for those wishing to become so.