A readback apparatus (a) calculates a variance value of a signal read by a head from a disc medium, (b) estimates a degree of offtracking of the head from a target track to an adjacent track, and interference power from the adjacent track using the variance value of the signal, (c) calculates a soft decision likelihood value for the signal using the degree of offtracking and the interference power, and (d) performs error correcting decoding using the soft decision likelihood value.