Acoustic Signal Processing for Hearing Assistive Devices (2024)

Welcome to the 2024 CASPR Course on Acoustic Signal Processing for Hearing Assistive Devices

ECTS: 3

Date/Time: Monday 26th, February to  Friday 1st, March, 2024. 

Note: This is a one week (5 full days) course with mandatory physical presence. Reading material will be distributed before the course. A course assignment must be handed in after the course.

Place: AAU Copenhagen campus. 

Deadline: 9 February 2024

Max no. Of participants: 25

Organizers:

  • Prof. Jesper Jensen, Aalborg University and Oticon
  • Prof. Jan Østergaard, Aalborg University.
  • Prof. Zheng-Hua Tan, Aalborg University.

Lecturers:

  • Prof. Steven van de Par, Oldenburg University
  • Prof. Jesper Jensen, Aalborg University and Oticon
  • Prof. Zheng-Hua Tan, Aalborg University
  • Dr. Meng Guo, Oticon.
  • Dr. Robert Rehr, Oticon.
  • Dr. Michael Syskind Pedersen, Oticon.
  • Dr. Dorothea Wendt, Eriksholm Research Center.
  • PhD student Vasudha Sathyapriyan, Aalborg University and Oticon
  • Ph.D student Payam Shahsavari, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Andreas Fuglsig, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Peter Leer Bysted, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Philippe Gonzalez , Technical University of Denmark
  • Ph.D student Asjid Tanveer, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Sangeeth G. Jayaprakash, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Holger S. Bovbjerg, Aalborg University
  • Ph.D student Mohammad Bokaei, Aalborg University


Description: 

Hearing assistive devices (HADs) are ubiquitous. They include, for example, devices such as headsets for speech communication in noisy environments (airplane crews, emergency/rescue teams, combat soldiers, police forces, etc.), headsets for office use, gaming, etc., and hearing care systems, e.g., hearing aids and cochlear implants.

The course consists of lectures and hands-on exercises, allowing the participants to understand in-depth the technical problems related to HADs and their potential solutions. The course is multi-disciplinary, focusing on applying theoretical results to real-world problems and practical do's and don'ts.



Course content

The course has three main parts.

The first part is a short introductory part, which lays the foundation for the rest of the course, covering fundamental topics such as auditory perception (normal and impaired hearing) and a discussion of the basic principles of HADs. 

The second part provides an overview of fundamental signal processing problems encountered in HADs, and an in-depth treatment of state-of-the-art solutions. These include methods for beamforming and noise reduction, direction-of-arrival estimation, voice activity detection, feedback control, hearing loss compensation, etc. Furthermore, an overview is given of important methodologies for evaluating HADs in particular related to speech intelligibility and listening effort. 

The third part of the course presents emerging technologies for HADs.

While the course focuses on HAD applications, many of the discussed techniques are general and find use in the much broader field of general sound processing.

The course also bridges the gap between theoretical background and practical/robust application.

Important information concerning PhD courses: We have over some time experienced problems with no-show for both project and general courses. It has now reached a point where we are forced to take action. Therefore, the Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 3000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start. This can hopefully also provide new students a chance to register for courses during the year. We look forward to your registrations.