Sound processing device and method

A sound processing method, comprising:

• controlling output of a first sound corresponding to a first sound image, wherein the first sound is output by sound reproduction;
• controlling movement of the first sound image of the first sound in a first direction based on a progress of the sound reproduction of the first sound to aurally express the progress of the sound reproduction of the first sound with respect to an entirety of the sound reproduction of the first sound;
• controlling output of a second sound corresponding to a second sound image at a time of reproduction of the first sound;
• and
• controlling movement of the second sound image in a second direction different from the first direction of the movement of the first sound image, wherein the movement of the second sound image in the second direction indicates the progress of the sound reproduction of the first sound.

A sound processing device, comprising:

• a reproduction control unit configured to:
• identify a reproduction section of a plurality of reproduction sections that corresponds to a specified direction based on metadata, the metadata including:
• information indicating reproduction start time of the reproduction section of a spoken sound;
• information related to a direction of a sound image corresponding to the reproduction section, wherein
• an orientation position of the sound image differs in each reproduction section of the plurality of reproduction sections, and
• the sound image includes a speech of a plurality of presentation items;
• and
• information of an angle of output of each of the plurality of presentation items with respect to a user in the direction of the sound image, wherein
• a level of importance of each of the plurality of presentation items is defined by the user;
• and
• control output of the spoken sound from the identified reproduction section in the specified direction such that a first presentation item of the plurality of presentation items with a first level of importance is output at a wider angle with respect to the user than a second presentation item of the plurality of presentation items with a second level of importance, wherein the first level of importance is higher than the second level of importance.

A sound processing method, comprising:

• identifying a reproduction section of a plurality of reproduction sections corresponding to a specified direction based on metadata, the metadata including:
• information indicating reproduction start time of the reproduction section of a spoken sound;
• information related to a direction of a sound image corresponding to the reproduction section, wherein
• an orientation position of the sound image differs in each reproduction section of the plurality of reproduction sections, and
• the sound image includes a speech of a plurality of presentation items;
• and
• information of an angle of output of each of the plurality of presentation items with respect to a user in the direction of the sound image, wherein
• a level of importance of each of the plurality of presentation items is defined by the user;
• and
• controlling output of the spoken sound from the identified reproduction section in the specified direction such that a first presentation item of the plurality of presentation items with a first level of importance is output at a wider angle with respect to the user than a second presentation item of the plurality of presentation items with a second level of importance, wherein the first level of importance is higher than the second level of importance.