Method and apparatus to provide surroundings awareness using sound recognition

摘要

Sound signals from a microphone 222 are inputted into a processor 210 and compared to known sounds which indicate potential threats, should the received sound signal match a known sound, an audible warning is provided for the detected threat. There are two specific embodiments in which the system is used: embedded in headphones 202 and within a vehicle 300. The known sounds may be a train horn or other noises indicative of vehicles. The processor may perform a Fast Fourier Transform FFT on the received sound signal and compare frequencies of the known signal. The system may also use GPS 250 to determine the systems proximity to a potential threat. A claim is also included for a system which determines the potential threat purely based on the location of the system, in particular the systems proximity to a level crossing.