Patent ID: 8731212

Claim:
A sound collecting device comprising: a microphone array having a plurality of sound-collecting microphones, the plurality of sound-collecting microphones being arrayed in a direction intersecting a predetermined direction such that respective orientation directions of the plurality of sound-collecting microphones are directed in the predetermined direction; and a computer configured with one or more programs that, in response to execution, implement sections including an orientation direction forming section, stored in a memory device, that forms an orientation direction of the microphone array by synthesizing acoustic signals outputted from the respective sound-collecting microphones, in a state in which phase differences between the acoustic signals corresponding to differences in arrival times at the respective sound-collecting microphones of sounds from the formed orientation direction are eliminated; a control section, stored in the memory device, that compares a characteristic of a synthesized signal obtained by synthesizing the acoustic signals with noise type information to make a determination whether the synthesized signal corresponds to a sound other than a target sound, and controls the orientation direction forming section to form an orientation direction of the microphone array based on the determination; an associating section that computes frequencies of occurrence of sounds collected by the sound-collecting microphones; and a changing section that changes comparison priority levels stored in a database, based on the frequencies of occurrence computed by the associating section, the comparison priority levels determining a priority of comparison of the synthesized signal with the noise type information; wherein the control section compares the characteristic of the synthesized signal with the noise type information in an order determined by the comparison priority levels.