A system and method for detecting multi-tone sirens despite environmental noises that may be present obtains a microphone input signal, applies, in real time, a time-frequency analysis to the microphone input signal to determine a time-frequency representation, provides at least one multi-tone model that has a plurality of tone duration patterns, performs multi-tone siren detection on the time-frequency representation, the detection based on the at least one multi-tone model and factoring of doppler shifts, and generates a detection result that can be used in systems for automated vehicles.