The Progressive Multilevel Embedding Method for Audio Steganography

Abstract

Abstract Audio steganography refers to hiding a secret message inside a cover audio file. The existing methods follow almost a sequential embedding which leads to poor utilization of the cover. The proposed method aims to achieve the maximum feasible capacity of the audio file without lowering the quality. The proposed method is based on seven levels of thresholds and six LSB layers, while the embedding is carried out progressively. The method allocates the message bits over the cover signal horizontally to ensure fair payload distribution over the signal. Hence, the selected samples might be visited multiple times till the message is totally embedded. The experimental results show that the method is able to reach a hiding capacity of 40% of the file size or 266.6 kbps while maintaining an SNR and PSNR values of 40 and 58 dB respectively. It is concluded that the proposed progressive method is highly adaptive to the message size and capable of providing high-quality stego even when big payloads are used. The comparative study shows that the progressive method provides the best message distribution based on the nature of the cover.