Noise masking device and method for use in an image forming apparatus

摘要

A noise masking device for a low-cost laser beam printer, a copier or the like for performing a noise masking with respect to a noise of a drive motor of an image forming apparatus while affording no psychological unpleasant feeling due to a frequency fluctuation thereof. The noise masking device of the image forming apparatus having the drive motor which becomes a source of the noise upon operation thereof includes signal generating means for generating a correlation signal which correlates with the noise, a speaker for generating a masking sound which masks the noise and masking sound control means for controlling the speaker to vary the masking sound corresponding to the variation in the correlation signal.