Harmonic-to-noise ratio is a signal-level ratio HNR = 10 log10( harmonic energy / noise energy ) computed per analysis frame from a short-time spectrum, where harmonic energy is summed over identified pitch-related partials and noise energy is the residual spectral energy after harmonic component removal; its parameters are frame length, window type, pitch estimation method, harmonic selection bandwidth, and the method for noise floor estimation; it persists as a standardized descriptor in speech pathology, voice quality assessment, and music information retrieval, implemented in toolkits such as Praat, VoiceSauce, and librosa, so that comparable voice recordings remain comparable across studies. [formal: ratio harmonica ad strepitum | substrate: mind | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.11]
Accepted ontology entry
harmonic-to-noise-ratio
Harmonic-to-noise ratio is a signal-level ratio HNR = 10 log10( harmonic energy / noise energy ) computed per analysis frame from a short-time spectrum, where harmonic energy is summed over identified pitch-related partials and noise energ…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made audio analysis metric designed to quantify the proportion of periodic harmonic energy to aperiodic noise in a signal, built to persist in speech and music processing literature and software.
Names and aliases
- harmonic-to-noise-ratioen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmspltmgd05tcjlsse8vqfce1DEPENDS_ON →
HNR is computed per frame from a short-time spectrum; the harmonic and noise energies are derived from the STFT magnitude. Remove STFT and the frame-wise spectral estimates needed for HNR disappear and the metric stops operating.
- pitch-estimationDEPENDS_ON →
HNR requires identification of pitch-related partials to sum harmonic energy and separate noise residual. Without pitch estimation the harmonic component cannot be isolated, so HNR stops operating.
- speech-enhancementSERVES →
Harmonic-to-noise ratio is a voice-quality metric built for the purpose of assessing and controlling periodicity in speech enhancement; it is used to guide dereverberation and noise suppression decisions and to evaluate enhancement quality. Servant points at master per Law 8d.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 3, 2026, 1:22 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 8b0c181c53ed87e66e78e3c4c1d70cff0bc859848647e5f7bbdb2dd634678bef