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Steganography in vector quantization process of linear predictive coding for low-bit-rate speech codec

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Abstract

In this paper, we focus on quantization-index-modulation (QIM) steganography in low-bit-rate speech codec and contribute to improve its steganalysis resistance. A novel QIM steganography is proposed based on the replacement of quantization index set in linear predictive coding (LPC). In this method, each quantization index set is seen as a point in quantization index space. Steganography is conducted in such space. Comparing with other methods, our algorithm significantly improves the embedding efficiency. One quantization index needs to be changed at most when three binary bits are hidden. The number of alterations introduced by the proposed approach is much lower than that of the current methods with the same embedding rate. Due to the fewer cover changes, the proposed steganography is less detectable. Moreover, a division strategy based on the genetic algorithm is proposed to reduce the additional distortion introduced by replacements. In our experiment, ITU-T G.723.1 is selected as the codec, and the experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art LPC-based approach in low-bit-rate speech codec with respect to both steganographic capacity and steganalysis resistance.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported partly by Natural Science Foundation of Nation and Hainan Province of China under Grant 61303249 and 614236, partly by Important Science and Technology Project of Hainan Province of China under Grant JDJS2013006, partly by Preferred Foundation of Director of Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and partly by the Young Talent Frontier Project of Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Haikou Laboratory, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Haikou, 570105, China

    Peng Liu & Songbin Li

  2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Haiqiang Wang

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  1. Peng Liu
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  2. Songbin Li
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Correspondence to Songbin Li.

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Communicated by B. Li.

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Liu, P., Li, S. & Wang, H. Steganography in vector quantization process of linear predictive coding for low-bit-rate speech codec. Multimedia Systems 23, 485–497 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00530-015-0500-7

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