Patent ID: 8478587
Filing Date: 2013-07-02
Classification: G10L

Abstract:
1. A sound analysis device comprising: a sound parameter calculation unit operable to acquire an audio signal and calculate a sound parameter for each of partial audio signals, the partial audio signals each being the acquired audio signal in a unit of time; a category determination unit operable to determine, from among a plurality of environmental sound categories, which environmental sound category each of the partial audio signals belongs to, based on a corresponding one of the calculated sound parameters; a section setting unit operable to sequentially set target sections on a time axis as time elapses, each of the judgment target sections including two or more of the units of time, the two or more of the units of time being consecutive; and an environment judgment unit operable to judge, based on a number of partial audio signals in each environmental sound category determined in at least a most recent judgment target section, an environment that surrounds the sound analysis device in at least the most recent judgment target section, wherein the environment judgment unit includes a calculation unit operable to calculate, for each of the judgment target sections, category occupancies each indicating a percentage of occupancy of a different one of environmental sound categories in the judgment target section, and wherein the judgment of the environment based on the number of partial audio signals in each environmental sound category determined in at least the most recent judgment target section is performed by determining whether or not a rate of change between (i) category occupancies in the most recent judgment target section and (ii) category occupancies in a preceding judgment target section is greater than a predetermined threshold value.