The IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics (WASPAA) is a highly regarded biennial event organized by the Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing (AASP) Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society since 1986. This two-and-a-half-day workshop focuses on reviewing the current state of the art and recent advances in signal processing, with an emphasis on applications to audio and acoustics. It brings together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to share ideas and advance the field.

This year marked a historic change of location, as WASPAA left the Mohonk Mountain House in Upstate New York for the first time in its history. The workshop was held at the Granlibakken Tahoe Resort near Lake Tahoe in Tahoe City, CA, from October 12 to 15, 2025. The Lake Tahoe area, renowned for its stunning beauty, did not pale in comparison to WASPAA’s former East Coast home. The new venue captured the unique spirit that has defined WASPAA over the years—offering the welcoming atmosphere of a secluded, cozy setting surrounded by nature, where most attendees stay on-site and share all meals. This environment fostered meaningful exchange and collaboration among 169 students, practitioners, and researchers in audio and acoustic signal processing (and one bear!).

This year, WASPAA was highly competitive, with a record number of submissions. Out of 246 initial submissions, 211 were reviewed—each receiving at least three reviews—for a total of 802 reviews completed by a team of 376 reviewers, overseen by 41 meta-reviewers. We used a double-blind review process, with authors given the option to submit a rebuttal for consideration by the meta-reviewers. Ultimately, 95 papers were accepted, resulting in an acceptance rate of 45%. All papers were presented as posters, with the top 10% (based on review scores) selected for oral Spotlight presentations.

Program highlights included three inspiring keynote talks by distinguished researchers and international leaders in the field: Karen Livescu (TTI-C), Alexandre Défossez (Kyutai), and Juan Pablo Bello (NYU).

Industry participation and engagement at the workshop were exceptionally strong. While 38% of the authors came from industry (versus 62% from academia)—already an impressive figure—an astonishing 47% of the 169 attendees represented industry.

We are deeply grateful for the $58K in sponsorship from 15 sponsors:

• Gold: Adobe, Amazon, Cisco, Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), Meta Reality Labs, Treble
• Silver: Apple, ByteDance, Dolby, Google, Microsoft, Starkey, Yamaha
• Bronze: Bose, UIUC

These sponsorships funded over $28K in travel and registration grants for 41 students and early-career researchers, as well as dinner and after-dinner receptions, and best paper and best student paper awards.

The after-dinner cocktail parties provided another opportunity to connect and reconnect—one featuring an energetic demo session with eight interactive demos, and another hosting a lively Town Hall on opportunities and challenges for the future of the community.

While the future of WASPAA is still being written, we have worked to provide a blueprint for future meetings beyond its historic venue and hope the workshop will return to Lake Tahoe again.

More details about WASPAA 2025 are available at waspaa.com/waspaa25/, and past WASPAA proceedings can be found on IEEE Xplore (this year’s proceedings will be available there soon).

Jonathan Le Roux (MERL) and Timo Gerkmann (University of Hamburg) - WASPAA 2025 General Co-Chairs