For voltage values (observed noise sequence) in an electronic power line (communication medium) which are obtained at a predetermined interval, initial values of noise characteristics based on a statistic of the observed noise sequence itself are decided by a moment method (S301 to S307), the noise characteristics (state transition probabilities and state noise power) for maximization of the likelihood of the observed noise sequence are obtained from the initial values by MAP (Maximum A Posteriori) estimation using a Baum-Welch algorithm (S309 to S312), a state sequence is estimated from the obtained noise characteristics, and an impulsive noise at each time point is detected.