Robust and reliable audio watermarking based on phase coding

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel robust audio watermarking method based on phase coding. The quantization index modulation technique is employed for embedding watermarks into the phase spectrum of audio signals. To increase robustness of the proposed method, the region of phase spectrum that is resistant against attacks is selected for embedding. We experimentally analyzed the phase spectrum to find out which region is not distorted under attacks. On the other hand, the quantization step size is suitably selected so that the modification of phase does not cause severe distortion in sound quality. The experimental results show that the watermarks could be kept inaudible in audio signals and robust against attacks. The proposed method has the ability to embed watermarks into audio signals up to 400 bits per second with a bit error rate of less than 1%.