A method and apparatus for detecting the current damaged state of a machine is provided. The disclosed relates to an apparatus for detecting the current damaged state of a machine, wherein the data capture and editing device: comprises a Fast Fourier analysis apparatus, for performing a transformation from pressure signals that are available in the time domain to a frequency domain as discrete-time frequency spectra (2), additionally includes a spatial aggregation unit and a temporal aggregation unit that combines the discrete-time frequency spectra, additionally includes a cepstrum analysis unit, for producing a cepstrum with various actual cepstrum values from the temporally and spatially aggregated discrete frequency spectra (5), additionally includes a computation unit that takes the cepstra produced in this manner and produces, at a previously defined interval of time, a plurality of actual cepstrum intervals including adjacent actual cepstrum values, as a result of which an actual cepstrum value, which can be ascertained from at least three adjacent actual cepstrum intervals, can be produced (6), includes a unit that computes (7) a target/actual comparison with the actual cepstrum value produced in this manner and a previously determined target cepstrum value.