The invention is directed to a single channel mask estimation method capable of improving reverberant speech identification for CI users. The method is based on the energy of the reverberant signal and the residual signal computed from linear prediction (LP) analysis. The mask is estimated by comparing the energy ratio of the two signals at different frequency bins with an adaptive threshold. As the threshold is updated for each frame of speech based on the energy ratios of the reverberant and LP residual signals computed from previous frames, it is amenable for real-time implementation. It can thus be used as a specialized (for reverberant environments) sound coding strategy used for cochlear implant applications.