PURPOSE: To avoid a trouble and to eliminate the need for reproduction operation when a message recorded during absence is heard by allowing an acoustic reproduction means to reproduce a message automatically when the message is recorded on a message recording area based on a detection output from a human body detection means.

CONSTITUTION: When a possessor of the automatic answering telephone set returns to his room and is close to a sensing range of an infrared ray sensor 9, the infrared ray sensor 9 outputs an output signal in response to the accessed distance to a comparator circuit 10. The comparator circuit 10 compares the output signal from the infrared ray sensor 9 with a preset threshold level and outputs a sensing signal to a microprocessor 20 when the output signal exceeds the threshold level. When the microprocessor 20 detects the detection signal from the comparator circuit 10, the microprocessor 20 discriminates it that the possessor returns to its room and uses a message presence destination means 21 to discriminate whether or not a message is recorded in a message recording area 5 and when the message is recorded, the message is reproduced from a speaker 12 via a voice output circuit 11.