Abstract: A system for detection of a target sound in an environment of a vehicle, includes an audio sensor, a computer processor, and a memory storing a digital target sound template produced by converting a sample of the target sound in accordance with conversion parameters. The computer processor receives a sound signal from the audio sensor, digitizes the sound signal in accordance with the conversion parameters, and determines a degree of similarity between the digitized signal and the digital target sound template. The sound signal may be logarithmically amplified before being digitized. The sound signal may be received from two audio sensors, and the direction of the target sound may be determined based on a difference between time indices for detection of the target sound for each audio sensor.