Welcome to the Winter 2025 edition of the Speech and Language Processing Technical Committee (SLTC) Newsletter.
For this edition, we have collected several updates from the ICASSP Area Chair, as well as from the Member Elections and Workshops subcommittees.
==ICASSP Area Chair Report==
The IEEE ICASSP 2026 review process is currently well underway. This year, the SLTC area received a record number of submissions—over 1,700 papers—marking a significant increase from approximately 1,200 submissions at ICASSP 2025. This remarkable growth highlights the continued vitality and expanding impact of the ICASSP SLTC community.
We are deeply grateful for the outstanding volunteer effort that has made this review process possible. To date, more than 1,200 reviewers, 148 meta-reviewers, and 17 area chairs in the SLTC area have generously contributed their time and expertise to ensure a fair and high-quality evaluation of all submissions.
The review process is now entering the author rebuttal and meta-review phases, which are critical steps toward the final decisions. We sincerely thank everyone who has contributed to the ICASSP 2026 review process so far for their dedication, professionalism, and commitment to maintaining the high standards of the conference.
--Shinji Watanabe
==Member Election==
IEEE SLTC 2025 Elections Results
The Member Election Subcommittee of the SLTC is pleased to announce the results of the election for members serving the 2026-2028 term. This year, we received nominations from a total of 64 candidates for 18 openings.
Without further ado, here are the newly elected and re-elected members listed by area:
Vice Chair – Jinyu Li
Multimodal Processing (1) – Wei-Ning Hsu
Natural Language Processing (4) – Chao Zhang, Jen-Tzung Chien, Koichiro Yoshino**, Sriram Ganapathy
Speaker Recognition (2) – Alicia Lozano-Diez, Sayaka Shiota
Speech Analysis (3) – Chi-Chun Lee (Jeremy), Georg Heigold, Visar Berisha
Speech Enhancement (1) – Jesper Rindom Jensen
Speech Recognition (3) – Leda Sari, Matthew Wiesner, Tatiana Likhomanenko
Speech Synthesis (3) – Erica Cooper, Soumi Maiti, Yu Zhang**
**reelected member
Congratulations to all (16 new members and 2 re-elected members, listed in alphabetical order within each category), and many thanks to everyone who was willing to serve on the Committee and run in the election. We look forward to working with all of you.
--The Member Election Subcommittee -- Ebru Arisoy, Sabato Marco Siniscalchi, Carlos Busso, Douglas O'Shaughnessy, Jan Skoglund, Yu Tsao
==Workshops==
The IEEE SLT 2026 Workshop will take place in Palermo, Sicily, a city that combines a growing technological ecosystem with a distinctive cultural heritage. Palermo’s emerging tech hubs and digital innovation initiatives offer valuable opportunities for collaboration with local researchers, startups, and industry partners. The city also provides an engaging backdrop for attendees, with its renowned cuisine, historical landmarks, and natural beauty, which foster networking and creative inspiration. Convenient international access is ensured through the Falcone-Borsellino Airport, which is served by around 30 airlines.
The conference venue, Hotel Saracen Sands, features 14 fully equipped meeting rooms accommodating 20 to 1,000 participants, along with 236 guest rooms. Its large seafront restaurant and spacious exhibition areas make it suitable for posters, demos, and technical showcases. Located 15 km from central Palermo and midway to the airport, the venue offers both convenience and comfort.
IEEE SLT 2026 will center on the theme Social Wellbeing in the Digital Privacy Era, highlighting the need to advance spoken language technologies responsibly while supporting their expanding impact in healthcare, education, and human–machine interaction. Continued progress in deep learning is accelerating innovation, transforming once-futuristic SLT applications into practical, widely deployable tools. All conventional SLT topics will also be included in the program. In addition, Challenge, Special Sessions, and Workshops will enrich the event with focused research activities and community engagement.
The Gala Dinner will be held at the historic Villa Boscogrande Cardillo, where memorable scenes from The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) were filmed. The villa provides a culturally rich setting tied to the story of Sicilian aristocracy during the Italian unification, exploring themes of change, tradition, and resilience, adding a meaningful cultural dimension to the event.
The organizing committee is also working on offering several guided tours, allowing interested delegates to explore the historic and cultural sites of Sicily.
--The Workshops Subcommittee -- Zhijian Ou, Shi-Xiong Zhang, Members: Chenghua Lin, Haitao Mi, Sibel Oyman
If you want to stay connected to the IEEE SLTC between newsletters, we are on Twitter @IEEE_SLTC.
Engin Erzin, Editor
Leibny Paola Garcia Perera, Communications Vice-Chair
