Uniform quantization of wavelet coefficients introduces perceptually distur
bing artifacts by decreasing visual smoothness. In this paper, local Holder
regularity is used to quantify these changes in visual smoothness. A modif
ied uniform quantization scheme that constrains local regularity decreases
is proposed. The quantizer modification is applicable to any uniform quanti
zation scheme and requires no additional side information to be transmitted
to the decoder, unlike standard deadzone quantizers. The reconstructed ima
ges show a noticeable perceptual improvement as well as an increased PSNR r
elative to uniform quantization.