Disclosed is an apparatus for cancelling far endpoint echo signals in audio signals transmitted from a near endpoint to a far endpoint. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a near endpoint analysis filter bank operable to divide a near endpoint signal into a plurality of near endpoint subband signals, a far endpoint analysis filter bank operable to divide a far endpoint signal into a plurality of far endpoint subband signals, and a background signal power estimator operable to determine background noise at the near end.