Patent ID: 8675882

Claim:
A sound signal processing device for attenuating a sound wave signal, the sound signal processing device comprising: a filter coefficient setting unit configured to determine filter coefficients for providing filter characteristics that attenuate levels of signals of the sound wave signal, wherein the signals of the sound wave signal, for which the levels are attenuated, represent sounds in a valid frequency range, wherein a lower limit frequency and an upper limit frequency of the valid frequency range are determined based on human auditory characteristics, and wherein the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency of the valid frequency range are determined, such that the valid frequency range includes frequencies for which a value of a magnitude of an influence of an interaural phase difference (IPD) on a listener's recognition of an angle of arrival of the sounds is above a predetermined threshold, the angle of arrival being an angle at which the sounds arrive at the listener, where the IPD=2π×frequency×interaural time difference (ITD); and a filter unit configured to filter the sound wave signal using the filter coefficients determined by said filter coefficient setting unit and to output sound signals, wherein the filter coefficients are determined by said filter coefficient setting unit such that an amount of the attenuation corresponds to the magnitude of the influence of the IPD on the listener's recognition of the angle of arrival of the sounds.