Snoring detection system

A system for detecting a sound generated by an entity during sleep, the entity being located within a first area of interest or a second area of interest separated from the first area of interest, the system comprising:

• a microphone array configured to focus on detecting sound arriving from the first area of interest and the second area of interest, the microphone array including
• a first microphone configured to convert a first sound into a first electrical signal, and
• a second microphone configured to convert a second sound into a second electrical signal, the first and second microphones being spatially separated;
• and
• a processor configured to generate a third electrical signal from the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal, the third electrical signal being representative of the first sound arriving at the first microphone and the second sound arriving at the second microphone from a plurality of directions, to select a first portion of the third electrical signal, the first portion corresponding to the first sound arriving at the first microphone and the second sound arriving at the second microphone from a direction of interest at each of a plurality of sample points, the direction of interest corresponding to the first area of interest or the second area of interest, to select a second portion of the third electrical signal, the second portion containing only components of the first portion that have a frequency within a frequency range of interest, to derive a metric from the second portion of the third electrical signal, the metric indicating if the first portion of the third electrical signal includes a component consistent with a sound generated by the entity during sleep, and to generate an output if the metric indicates that the first portion of the third electrical signal includes a component consistent with the sound generated by the entity during sleep.