Provided are methods and systems for generating Direct-to-Reverberant Ratio (DRR) estimates. The methods and systems use a null-steered beamformer to produce accurate DRR estimates across a variety of room sizes, reverberation times, and source-receiver distances. The DRR estimation algorithm uses spatial selectivity to separate direct and reverberant energy and account for noise separately. The formulation considers the response of the beamformer to reverberant sound and the effect of noise. The DRR estimation algorithm is more robust to background noise than existing approaches, and is applicable where a signal is recorded with two or more microphones, such as with mobile communications devices, laptop computers, and the like.