Clipping Nonlinearity

A simple example of a noninvertible (many-to-one) memoryless nonlinearity is the clipping nonlinearity, well known to anyone who records or synthesizes audio signals. In normalized form, the clipping nonlinearity is defined by

$$f(x) = \left\{\begin{array}{ll} -1, & x\leq -1 \\ [5pt] x, & -1 \leq x \leq 1 \\ [5pt] 1, & x\geq 1 \\ \end{array} \right. \protect$$ (7.17)

Since the clipping nonlinearity abruptly transitions from linear to hard-clipped in a non-invertible, heavily aliasing manner, it is usually desirable to use some form of soft-clipping before entering the hard-clipping range.