Patent ID: 8682675

Claim:
A sound monitoring system comprising: a microphone array having a plurality of microphones; a processing section; a storage section; and an A/D converter connected to the microphone; wherein the storage section stores data concerning the microphone; wherein the processing section searches for the microphone array near a sound source to be monitored based on data concerning the microphone and selects a sound field monitoring function for the sound source to be monitored based on data concerning the microphone in the searched microphone array; wherein the data concerning the microphone includes A/D synchronization data on the A/D converter connected to the microphone; wherein the processing section selects the sound field monitoring function based on the A/D synchronization data; wherein the data concerning the microphone is stored in the storage section and includes directivity data on the microphone; wherein the processing section selects the sound field monitoring function based on the directivity data when the A/D synchronization data for the searched microphone array indicates synchronization; wherein the data concerning the microphone includes interval distance for the microphone; and wherein the processing section selects the sound field monitoring function based on the interval distance when the directivity data for the searched microphone array is identified to be omnidirectional.