Method and apparatus for recognizing acoustic anomalies

A non-transitory digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for performing a method for recognizing acoustic anomalies, comprising:

• obtaining a long-term recording having a plurality of first audio segments associated to respective first time windows, wherein the long-term recording comprises at least a duration of 1 minute or 10 minutes or at least 1 hour or at least 24 hours;
• analyzing the plurality of the first audio segments to obtain, for each of the plurality of the first audio segments, a first characteristic vector describing the respective first audio segment;
• obtaining a further recording having one or more second audio segments associated to respective second time windows;
• analyzing the one or more second audio segments to obtain one or more characteristic vectors describing the one or more second audio segments;
• matching the one or more second characteristic vectors with the plurality of the first characteristic vectors to recognize at least one anomaly when compared to an acoustic normal situation for this environment;
• and
• the method:
• when analyzing, comprising the sub-step of identifying a repetition pattern in the plurality of the first time windows;
• or
• comprising recognizing an order of first characteristic vectors belonging to different first audio segments or recognizing an order of groups of identical or similar first characteristic vectors;
• when said computer program is run by a computer.

An apparatus for recognizing acoustic anomalies, comprising:

• an interface for obtaining a long-term recording having a plurality of first audio segments associated to respective first time windows, wherein the long-term recording comprises at least a duration of 1 minute or 10 minutes or at least 1 hour or at least 24 hours;
• and for obtaining a further recording having one or more second audio segments associated to respective second time windows;
• and
• a processor configured for analyzing the plurality of the first audio segments to obtain, for each of the plurality of the first audio segments, a first characteristic vector describing the respective first audio segment, and configured for analyzing the one or more second audio segments to obtain one or more characteristic vectors describing the one or more second audio segments, and configured for matching the one or more second characteristic vectors with the plurality of the first characteristic vectors to recognize at least one anomaly when compared to an acoustic normal situation for this environment;
• and
• said processor:
• when analyzing, configured for identifying a repetition pattern in the plurality of the first time windows;
• or
• configured for recognizing an order of first characteristic vectors belonging to different first audio segments or recognizing an order of groups of identical or similar first characteristic vectors.