US Patent 11087744 Masking systems and methods

Term masking is performed by generating a time-alignment value for a plurality of identifiable units of sound in vocal audio content contained in a mixed audio track, force-aligning each of the plurality of identifiable units of sound to the vocal audio content based on the time-alignment value, thereby generating a plurality of force-aligned identifiable units of sound, identifying from the plurality of force-aligned identifiable units of sound a force-aligned identifiable unit of sound to be muddled, and audio muddling the force-aligned identifiable unit of sound to be muddled.