Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing

A Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship in audio signal processing for hearing assistive devices

Research position at Oticon

A PhD research position is available in Oticon A/S and Dept. Electronic Systems, Aalborg University in the frame of the H2020 MSCA European Training Network “Service-Oriented Ubiquitous Network-Driven Sound (SOUNDS)” under the supervision of Prof. Jesper Jensen.

The PhD student will be fully embedded in the SOUNDS research and training network and will carry out applied research in the interdisciplinary field of signal processing, room acoustics, auditory perception, communication networks and machine learning.

The research will be executed at Oticon - a world-leading hearing aid manufacturer - and will involve several research visits to internationally renowned research labs in Europe.

A fully-funded 3-year research position in the frame of a 3-year doctoral program (resulting in a PhD degree awarded by Aalborg University) is offered.

The topic of the PhD project is: "Distributed sound processing for hearing aid applications"

The “SOUNDS” project

The SOUNDS European Training Network (ETN) revolves around a new and promising paradigm coined as Service- Oriented, Ubiquitous, Network-Driven Sound. Inspired by the ubiquity of mobile and wearable devices capable of capturing, processing, and reproducing sound, the SOUNDS ETN aims to bring audio technology to a new level by exploiting network-enabled cooperation between devices.

We envision the next generation of audio devices to be capable of providing enhanced hearing assistance, creating immersive audio experience, enabling advanced voice control and much more, by seamlessly exchanging signals and parameter settings, and spatially analyzing and reproducing sound jointly with other nearby audio devices and infrastructure.

Moreover, such functionality should be self-organizing, flexible, and scalable, requiring minimal user interaction for adapting to changes in the environment or network. It is anticipated that this paradigm will eventually result in an entirely new way of designing and using audio technology, by considering audio as a service enabled through shared infrastructure, rather than as a device-specific functionality limited by the capabilities and constraints of a single user device.

The ideal profile

To attain this paradigm shift in audio technology not only requires additional research but also calls for a new generation of qualified researchers with a transdisciplinary and international scientific profile, strong collaborative research and research management skills, and the intersectoral expertise needed to carry research results from academia to industry.

Candidates must

• hold a Master degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Engineering Acoustics (or equivalent),
• have a solid mathematical background  (e.g. in matrix algebra, stochastic processes, etc.),
• have taken specialized courses in at least one of the following disciplines: digital signal processing, acoustics, audio signal processing, machine learning,
• have experience with scientific computing in Matlab, Python, or similar,
• have excellent proficiency in the English language, as well as good communication skills, both oral and written.

Candidates who are in the final phase of their Master program are equally encouraged to apply, and should mention their expected graduation date.

Candidates must satisfy the eligibility conditions for MSCA Early Stage Researchers, i.e., they must have obtained their Master degree in the past 4 years and must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Denmark for more than 12 months in the past 3 years.

Why join us?

It is believed that the SOUNDS ETN will offer the best possible framework for achieving these goals, by organizing advanced interdisciplinary research training, developing solid transferable skills, and providing intersectoral and international experience in a network of qualified and complementary industrial and academic institutions.

We offer:

• A high-level and exciting international research environment.
• A strong involvement in a European research project with high international visibility.
• A PhD title from one of Europe's top universities (after 3 years of successful research).
• A thorough scientific education in the frame of a doctoral training program.
• The possibility to participate in local as well as international courses, workshops and conferences.
• The possibility to perform research visits to internationally renowned research labs in Europe.

The SOUNDS ETN strongly values research integrity, actively supports open access and reproducible research, and strives for diversity and gender balance in its entire research and training program. The SOUNDS ETN adheres to The European Charter for Researchers and The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.

Interested?

Then please send 1) your motivation letter with a statement of skills and research interests (max 1 page), 2) academic CV, including transcripts and possibly GRE/TOEFL results, 3) relevant diplomas, and 4)  names and contact information of 1-2 references to us using the link https://www.oticon.global/about/jobs/careers/open-positions/job-details2?id=14404. We hope we hear from you as soon as possible and no later than Jan. 3, 2021.

For questions please contact Prof. Jesper Jensen at jesj@demant.com.

We look forward to welcoming you.

The Signal Processing (SP) research group at the Universität Hamburg in Germany is hiring a Research Associate / PhD student in the field of Speech and Audio Signal Processing.

The general focus of the Signal Processing (SP) research group is on developing novel methods for processing speech and audio signals with applications in speech communication devices such as hearing aids, mobile telephony, and voice-controlled assistants. Typically, the performance of these devices drops drastically when interfering sources, noise, and/or reverberation are present. The goal of the candidate is to develop novel methods to enable or facilitate speech communication and voice control in such acoustically challenging scenarios. In this context, possible PhD topics include source separation, source localization, speech enhancement and multimodal signal processing. Typical methods include statistical modeling and modern machine learning methods such as deep neural networks.

Please find the full announcement here
https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/sp/job-offer.html

The Speech Technology Group of Toshiba Europe LTD in Cambridge has opening for an ASR researcher. We are looking for candidates with background in signal processing, machine learning, acoustic modelling or expertise in building state-of-the-art systems for ASR.  The candidate should have a PhD in areas of speech technology related to automatic speech recognition, machine learning or a related field (Post-doctoral/industrial experience is beneficial). 

Please check for more details at:  https://careers.toshiba.eu/displayjob.aspx?jobid=132

The Signal Processing and Speech Communication Laboratory (www.spsc.tugraz.at) at Graz University of Technology seeks a Senior Scientist who will further develop our research program in Audio Signal Processing with responsibilities in research goal definition, proposal writing and funding acquisitiion, scientific and administrative project management, research team management, research infrastructure support, regional and international cooperation, scientific publication, and technology transfer to industrial partners. Both curiosity-driven and applied research is welcome, in particular in application areas like medical engineering, assistive devices, acoustical measurements, and speech analysis. Some of the management work will involve project implementation for the lab director.

A limited amount of bachelor and master level teaching is expected as well, including supervision of student projects and master's theses.

Employment Conditions

• PhD in Electrical and Audio Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Information and Computer Engineering
• At least 3 years of employment in a research-related field
• Very good knowledge/mastering of the English language
• Scientific qualification in the area of Audio Signal Proceesing, demonstrated through peer-reviewed publications and  third-party funding acquisition

Additional Qualifications

• Ability to further develop the research and teaching at the Signal Processing and Speech Communication laboratory, experience and methodical knowledge in the research field of Audio Signal Processing, implementation and administrative as well as scientific management of research projects
• Experience in selected applications of Audio Signal Processing such as medicine, assisted living, acoustical measurements, speech analysis
• Experience in the acqusitiion of publicly funded research projects as well as in cooperation with industrial partners
• Experience in and readiness for indepedent teaching, including the supervision of project and graduation works

Specific Requirements

• Willingness to participate in the continuing education program, especially in the framework of the offerings at Graz University of Technology
• The chosen candidate should have a strong command of the English language, written and spoken, so as to effectively represent and communicate the subject matter in an international context both in the classroom and in the research field. If the candidate does not yet have sufficient knowledge of the German language, he or she must bewilling to pursue and acquire said language skills

Benefits
Classification B1 according to the collective bargaining agreement for employees at universities. Indefinite-period full-time employment contract. Minimum gross salary is currently € 3,889.50 (before taxes, paid 14 times per year). 25 paid vacation days per year. Comprehensive health insurance. University sports program. Public transport allowance. Concessions for services and purchases. Family-friendly work place (regional award in 2018) including in-house day-care centre. Dual career program.

Eligibility criteria
Graz University of Technology aims at an increase of the percentage of female employees, especially in leading positions and amongst the scientific personnel, therefore qualified women are especially encouraged to apply. Until a balanced employment of females and males is achieved, women will be preferentially recruited.

Selection process
Graz University of Technology strives actively to achieve diversity and equality. In the selection process, individuals cannot be discriminated for based on gender, ethnicity, religion or beliefs, age or sexual orientation, respectively. Qualified individuals with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

Travel costs incurred during the application and interview process will not be reimbursed by Graz University of Technology.

Additional comments
Applicants are asked to forward a detailed application in electronic form (application letter, certificates and documents, curriculum vitae with a description of the applicant ́s scientific and professional career, publication list with copies of the five most important publications, an overview of his or her recent research and teaching activities) by no later than

August 26, 2020 (e-mail timestamp),

attn:
Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Information Engineering
Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Wolfgang Bösch, MBA
Inffeldgasse 18/EG, 8010 Graz, Austria
E-Mail: dekanat.etit@tugraz.at.

All applications have to include the reference number 4420/20/028 .

Job Vacancies: Three Researchers in AI for Sound [We would particularly like to encourage applications from women, disabled and Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic candidates, since these groups are currently underrepresented in our area.] Location: University of Surrey, Guildford, UK Deadline: Friday 17 July 2020 (23:00 GMT) Applications are invited for three new researchers (two Research Fellows and one Research Engineer) to work full-time on an EPSRC-funded Fellowship project "AI for Sound": https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/fellowship-advance-sound-new-frontiers-using-ai * Research Fellow in Machine Learning for Sound https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025620 * Research Fellow in Design Research for Sound Sensing https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025420 * Research Engineer (Research Fellow) in Sound Sensing https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025520

The aim of the project is to undertake research in computational analysis of everyday sounds, in the context of a set of real-world use cases in assisted living in the home, smart buildings, smart cities, and the creative sector. The idea is to bring "AI for Sound" technology out of the lab, helping to realize its potential to benefit society and the economy. The Research Fellow in Machine Learning for Sound will investigate advanced machine learning methods applied to sound signals. The Research Fellow in Design Research for Sound Sensing will conduct user requirements and evaluation studies to drive the technology research and to ensure successful development and application of the project technology. The Research Engineer will be responsible for designing and building the hardware and software to be developed in the fellowship. The post-holders will be based in the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP) at the University of Surrey, and work under the direction of PI (EPSRC Fellow) Prof Mark Plumbley.

CVSSP is an International Centre of Excellence for research in Audio-Visual Machine Perception, with 125 researchers, a grant portfolio of £24M (£17.5M EPSRC) from EPSRC, EU, InnovateUK, charity and industry, and a turnover of £7M/annum. The Centre has state-of-the-art acoustic capture and analysis facilities and a Visual Media Lab with video and audio capture facilities supporting research in real-time video and audio processing and visualisation. CVSSP has a compute facility with 120 GPUs for deep learning and >1PB of high-speed secure storage.

For more information about the posts and how to apply, please visit: * https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025620 (Research Fellow in Machine Learning for Sound) * https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025420 (Research Fellow in Design Research for Sound Sensing) * https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/025520 (Research Engineer (Research Fellow) in Sound Sensing) Deadline: Friday 17 July 2020 (23:00 GMT). For informal inquiries, please contact Prof Mark Plumbley https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/mark-plumbley, m.plumbley@surrey.ac.uk

A full time one-year position as a postdoctoral Fellow is available at the AViReS Lab ( https://avires.dimi.uniud.it ) of the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics (DMIF), University of Udine.   

The postdoc fellow will work with an interdisciplinary team of experienced researchers in the fields of audio signal processing, computer vision, machine learning, robotics. Primary co-mentors will be Prof. Carlo Drioli and Prof. Gian Luca Foresti. The goals of his research will be to develop specific methods and algorithms allowing to improve the effectiveness of localization and tracking of a moving target through the dynamic reconfiguration of a sensor network, to study the integration possibilities of acoustic and optical sensors with respect to the problem under study, to address application scenarios related to the use of mobile robotic platforms, in particular autonomous aerial drones (UAVs/MAVs) equipped with acoustic and optical sensors.
The research activities will be normally conducted at the AViReS Lab facilities in Udine. However note that, due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, it is possible that for the first few months the activities will have to be conducted remotely.  
Total grant payd by the financer amounts to 19.367,00 Euros.

Application deadline is May 12, 2020 at 02:00 p.m. (Italian time).

Please contact Carlo Drioli (carlo.drioli@uniud.it) or Gian Luca Foresti (gianluca.foresti@uniud.it) for any further questions.

Detailed information and directions to apply can be found at the following links: 

http://web.uniud.it/ateneo/normativa/albo_ufficiale/258-2020/DRN_188_2020_Notice%20of%20competition_.pdf
http://web.uniud.it/ateneo/normativa/albo_ufficiale/258-2020

Due to the recent situation we decided to extend the deadline for our open position on emotion recognition:

The Signal Processing (SP) research group at the Universität Hamburg in Germany is hiring a Research Associate / PhD student.

The goal of the successful candidate is to design signal processing and machine learning algorithms to automatically detect emotional expressions from recorded audio data. Challenges include speaker localization and diarization (often with overlapping speech), identification of discrete behaviors (e. g. laughter), and expansion to higher, more abstract levels of socioemotional behaviors.

This project is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Mechanisms of Change in Dynamic Social Interactions", which integrates fundamental science, innovative methods, and applications in psychology and computer science.

Please find the full job announcement with all details here

https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/sp/job-offer.html

--
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Timo Gerkmann

Signal Processing (SP)

Universität Hamburg
Vogt-Kölln-Str. 30, F-126

22527 Hamburg
Germany

Web:     http://uhh.de/inf-sp
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsC4bz4A6mdkktO_eyCDraw

Project Title: Automatically detecting emotional expressions in dynamic group interactions from audio signals

The goal of the successful candidate is to design signal processing and machine learning algorithms to automatically detect emotional expressions (individual affect and group mood) from recorded audio data. Challenges include speaker localization and diarization (often with overlapping speech), identification of discrete behaviors (e. g. laughter), and expansion to higher, more abstract levels of socioemotional behaviors (e. g., verbal expressions of support or disagreement) in order to detect convergent affective phenomena and emergent group mood.

This project is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Mechanisms of Change in Dynamic Social Interactions", which integrates fundamental science, innovative methods, and applications in psychology and computer science.

Please find the full job announcement with all details here

https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/sp/job-offer.html

The cluster of excellence Hearing4all (https://hearing4all.eu/EN/) at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany, is seeking to fill the position of a

Research Associate (m/f/d)

in the Signal Processing Group (https://uol.de/en/mediphysics-acoustics/sigproc) at the Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics.

The position is available from May 1, 2020 until October 31, 2022, with a possible extension for 3 years. Salary will be according to TV-L E13 (100 %). The position is suitable for part-time work.

In the framework of the cluster of excellence Hearing4all the successful candidate is expected to contribute to the research goals of Research Thread II "IT-based diagnostics and rehabilitation" by developing and evaluating individualized signal processing solutions for virtual and real hearing devices. More in particular, in the envisaged project the main objective is to automatically optimize the parameter settings of acoustical signal processing algorithms for the individual user based on machine learning.

Candidates are required to have an academic university degree (Master or equivalent) in hearing technology and audiology, electrical engineering, physics or a related discipline, and have shown their ability to perform excellent scientific work, typically demonstrated by the outstanding quality of their doctoral thesis and an excellent publication record. We are seeking candidates with extensive knowledge in at least two of the following research fields: speech/audio signal processing, machine learning and auditory perception. In particular, for the envisaged project experience with hearing aid algorithms is beneficial. Excellent programming (e.g. Matlab, python), English language skills and experience with subjective listening experiments are mandatory.

The Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg is dedicated to increasing the percentage of women in science. Therefore, equally qualified female candidates will be given preference. Applicants with disabilities will be preferentially considered in case of equal qualification.

Please send your application (ref. SP194) including a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, list of publications and a copy of the university diplomas and grades to Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Fakultät VI, Abt. Signalverarbeitung, Prof. Dr. Simon Doclo, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany, or electronically to simon.doclo@uni-oldenburg.de. Application by email is preferred.

The application deadline is 07.03.2020.

The aim of this postdoc project is to develop a novel ultrasound methodology that enables non-invasive read-out of the acoustic properties of radiation-sensitive microbubbles in order to construct a dose map. Hereto, acoustic models of wave propagation through soft tissue will be combined with advanced signal processing techniques. The developed methodology will extensively be validated in experimental setups (both in-vitro and in-vivo).

Background: Recent records on cancer incidence and mortality as well as on the associated economic burden, attest that cancer will remain a major and worldwide public health problem with serious socio-economic impact in the forthcoming decades. Comprised in the cure of approximately 50% of all cancer patients, radiation therapy is a fundamental pillar in their treatment. Relying on the tissue damaging properties of ionizing radiation, radiation therapy aims to maximally expose tumor tissue with minimal healthy tissue exposure. Thereto, recent advances in radiation therapy enable the planning and delivery of complex dose distributions exhibiting high tumor conformity. However, increased tumor conformity requires increased delivery accuracy which needs to be verified to ensure appropriate tumor exposure and minimal healthy tissue irradiation. This implies a growing need for appropriate treatment verification strategies effectively measuring the actual radiation dose imparted on the tumor. Despite this unmistakable need, current dosimetry technology is lagging behind on radiotherapy planning and delivery evolutions. As a consequence, radiotherapy cannot exploit its full capability.   About the co-supervising labs and the university: The main part of the research will be conducted at the Lab on Cardiovascular Imaging & Dynamics is part of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences of the University of Leuven (www.kuleuven.be). It is embedded within the Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC; https://mirc.uzleuven.be/MedicalImagingCenter), a multi-disciplinary research institute with approximately 100 researchers working on fundamental and translational research in the area of medical imaging and image processing. The MIRC is located on the campus of the university hospital Gasthuisberg (www.uzleuven.be) where researchers and clinicians work in close cooperation. The research is in collaboration with the Stadius Centre for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing, and Data Analytics (STADIUS, http://www.esat.kuleuven.be/stadius) at the Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT) at KU Leuven. STADIUS's major research objective is to contribute to the development of improved digital control and signal processing systems that incorporate advanced mathematical modeling techniques as a crucial new ingredient. STADIUS draws concepts from mathematical fields such as linear and multi-linear algebra, statistics, discrete mathematics, optimization, etc.   Context: The postdoc project is part of a large research effort (called “Amphora”) at the European level on developing a new sensor system that enables measuring local radiation dose in-situ. Hereto, small microbubbles will be used as local sensors to radiation that can be read out using ultrasound waves. Please visit www.amphora-project.eu for more detailed information.

Profile:

• You have a PhD degree in (wave) physics, signal processing or biomedical engineering
• You have a solid mathematical background enabling to understand physical models
• You have a strong interest in wave physics and signal processing
• You are practical and can build experimental setups independently
• Being familiar with ultrasound imaging and its applications is an asset
• You have good programming skills in Matlab and/or in C/C++
• You are fluent in oral and written English
• You are enthusiastic and result oriented
• You can work independently with a critical mind set
• You have strong team-player skills
• You have NOT worked in Belgium in the past 3 years (this is a funding requirement)

Offer: We offer a postdoc position for 2 years with a market conform wage in a large, multidisciplinary research center in the heart of Europe, at a highly-ranked university. The position is immediately available and is co-supervised by experts in the field of ultrasound imaging and signal processing.

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Jan D'hooge, tel.: +3216349012, mail: jan.dhooge@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. ir. Alexander Bertrand, tel.: +32 16 32 18 99, mail: alexander.bertrand@kuleuven.be.   Apply through this website: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/55466914 (website expires after Dec. 7th, after this date, please contact us directly at alexander.bertrand@esat.kuleuven.be and jan.dhooge@kuleuven.be and we could still consider your application)