Patent ID: 6925340

Claim:
A sound reproduction method, comprising the steps of: delimiting a reproduction input sound signal obtained by reproducing, from a recording medium, a sound signal recorded on the recording medium at a speed higher than a normal speed into successive processing unit periods; deleting a sound absence portion or portions of the reproduction input sound signal within a range within which a reproduction output sound signal of an amount corresponding to that at the normal speed is obtained from an output buffer to join sound presence portions of the reproduction input sound signal which precede and follow the sound absence portion or portions to obtain a joined reproduction input sound signal for each processing unit period; partly deleting, if a sound presence portion or portions of an amount which cannot be stored into said output buffer are included in the reproduction input sound signal of any of the processing unit periods, the sound presence portion or portions to join sound presence portions which precede and follow the sound absence portion or portions and compressing the reproduction input sound signal of the processing unit period to obtain a compressed reproduction input sound signal of the processing unit period; and writing the joined reproduction input sound signal or the compressed reproduction input signal for each processing unit period into said output buffer; wherein, when a sound absence portion is to be deleted to join sound presence portions which precede and follow the sound absence portion to each other, fade-out processing is performed for the sound presence portion which precedes the joining point between the sound presence portions whereas fade-in processing is performed for the sound presence portion which follows the joining point.