An audio output apparatus includes a masking band determining unit configured to determine a first frequency band in which masking due to environmental sounds is likely to occur in audio signal output sounds; a band-component extracting unit configured to extract a signal component from an input audio signal in the first frequency band determined by the masking band determining unit; a pitch shift unit configured to perform pitch shifting of the signal component in the first frequency band extracted by the band-component extracting unit and generate a pitch shift signal containing a signal component of at least a doubled frequency; and a signal output unit configured to supply an audio signal containing the pitch shift signal acquired by the pitch shift unit to a connected speaker.