Signal processing (SP) is a “hidden” technology that has transformed the digital world and changed our lives in so many ways. The field of digital SP (DSP) took off in the mid-1960s, aided by the integrated circuit and increasing availability of digital computers. Since then, the field of DSP has grown tremendously and fueled groundbreaking advances in technology across a wide range of fields with profound impact on society. 

When I began writing this 75th anniversary article celebrating women in signal processing (SP), I reread the 1998 editorial titled “Fifty Years of Signal Processing: 1948–1998” [1] . At that time, IEEE had more than 300,000 members in 150 nations, the world’s largest professional technical Society. Within the IEEE umbrella, there were 37 IEEE Societies and technical groups, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) was the oldest among its many Societies.

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is an issue that has been studied extensively [1] . Yet women still face many challenges, even though the demand for many STEM occupations has exploded. Many factors contribute to the low number of women in the STEM field. From an early age, girls are exposed to many cultural cues that dissuade them from participating in STEM fields. This gender bias is enforced by implicit or explicit messages from multiple sources.

One year ago, I was writing the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine 2022 May editorial when the Russian army brutally attacked Ukraine. One year after, war is always present… I can’t understand how a single man and his entourage can unleash such a killing spree and be responsible for so many deaths, especially innocent victims like children.

Humans can listen to a target speaker even in challenging acoustic conditions that have noise, reverberation, and interfering speakers. This phenomenon is known as the cocktail party effect . For decades, researchers have focused on approaching the listening ability of humans. One critical issue is handling interfering speakers because the target and nontarget speech signals share similar characteristics, complicating their discrimination.