Patent ID: 8031862

Claim:
A voice mail apparatus connected to a telephone exchange for switching between a plurality of telephone terminals, the voice mail apparatus configured to record a voice message sent from a caller telephone terminal in a mail box in response to an incoming call from the telephone exchange, and to reproduce the voice message in response to a reproduction instruction, the apparatus comprising: a storage unit configured to store a learning audio file, the learning audio file having substantially the same signal level as the voice message; a voice processing unit configured to process the voice message with a voice processing device whose processing gain is arbitrarily adjustable; a gain control unit configured to monitor a signal level of an output signal of the voice processing device and to control the processing gain of the voice processing device such that the signal level becomes a prescribed level; and a processing control unit configured to read the learning audio file from the storage unit to provide the learning audio file to the voice processing device when a request for processing the voice message is given from the caller telephone terminal, to mute audio for the caller telephone terminal while the gain control unit is performing a gain control for the learning audio file, and to provide the voice message to the voice processing device after the gain control unit completes the gain control for the learning audio file.