Patent ID: 9251780
Filing Date: 2016-02-02
CPC Classification: G10K,H04K

Claim Text:
1. A sound output device for masking an operation sound generated by equipment, the sound output device comprising: a memory unit that stores, in advance, a plurality of masking sounds corresponding to operation sounds generated in a plurality of operation modes that are executable by the equipment, respectively, each of the masking sounds changing in sound pressure level over time in correspondence with each of said corresponding operation sounds; an operation determining unit that determines which of the operation modes is to be executed by the equipment; a selecting unit that selects at least one of the masking sounds stored in the memory unit in advance, based on the operation mode determined by the operation determining unit; a sound reproducing unit that reads the selected masking sound from the memory unit; and a sound output unit that outputs the selected masking sound read by the sound reproducing unit from the memory unit, wherein: the sound output unit outputs the masking sounds corresponding to respective operation modes determined by the operation determining unit, the masking sounds changing differently in sound pressure level over time, wherein the selecting unit selects, from among the masking sounds stored in the memory unit, the masking sound corresponding to the operation mode determined by the operation determining unit, and the sound reproducing unit reads the selected masking sound from the memory unit, and causes the sound output unit to output the read masking sound, and wherein the selecting unit selects a plurality of the masking sounds from the memory unit, based on operation modes determined by the operation determining unit, and the sound reproducing unit reads the selected plurality of the masking sounds from the memory unit and causes the sound output unit to output said plurality of the masking sounds.