A physiological signal processing system/method for a physiological waveform that includes a cardiovascular signal component provides a first variable high pass filter that is responsive to the physiological waveform, and to a first corner frequency that is applied. A second variable high pass filter is responsive to a noise reference waveform from a noise reference sensor and is configured to high pass filter the noise reference waveform in response to a second corner frequency that is applied. A heart rate metric extractor is responsive to the variable high pass filters and is configured to extract a heart rate metric from the physiological waveform that is high pass filtered. A corner frequency adjuster is responsive to the heart rate metric extractor and is configured to determine the corner frequencies that are applied to the variable high pass filters, based on the heart rate metric that was extracted.
