Audio and Acoustics Signal Processing: The Quest for High Fidelity Continues
by Professor Karlheinz Brandenburg
Internet Hall of Fame Innovator
This presentation is for anybody interested in audio and acoustics signal processing. Over the last decades, signal processing has significantly contributed to new solutions addressing the high fidelity problem, some of which include simple solutions like matrix multichannel systems, audio coding which changed the world of music distribution and listening habits, active noise control, active modification of room acoustics, search and recommendation technologies to find favourite music. At the moment, music information retrieval and immersive technologies using loudspeakers or headphones are among the open research areas. For such systems we use our knowledge about hearing, especially how ear and brain work together to form the sensation of sound. However, our knowledge about hearing and psychoacoustics is still far from complete. In fact, just in the last few years we have learned a lot about what we don’t know. This talk will touch on a number of the subjects above, explaining some current works and application areas. Finally, the talk concludes with open research questions about psychoacoustics and the evaluation of audio quality.
Dr. Brandenburg was a driving force behind some of today’s most innovative digital audio technology, notably the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly known as MP3; and the MPEG audio standards. A pioneer in digital audio coding, he has been awarded about 100 patents. In 1989 he earned his PhD from the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, in Electrical Engineering for work on digital audio coding and perceptual measurement techniques. His dissertation research forms the basis not only of MP3, but also of MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) and most other modern audio compression schemes.
Are We There Yet?: Consumer Technology Trends as We Turn the Corner
by Brian Markwalter
Senior Vice President of Research and Standards for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™
Throughout the pandemic, consumer technology has been critical to our continued work, education and connections to family and friends. Even our beloved IEEE conferences pivoted to all-digital formats out of necessity. As we start the year with an in-person CES and hopes for the personal interactions we cherish, what changes will take place on the consumer technology front? This presentation will look at key trends in consumer technology and leverage CTA’s extensive market research to assess which products will be in demand and the consumer behaviors behind that demand.
Brian Markwalter is senior vice president of research and standards for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $487 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. CTA also owns and produces CES® – the most influential tech event in the world. Markwalter is responsible for CTA’s extensive consumer research, market data and forecasting capability, and CTA’s ANSI-accredited standards development program which develops technical standards used in millions of products every year. He serves on the ATSC board of directors, the Federal Communications Commission Technological Advisory Council, holds seven patents and is a licensed professional engineer.
Humanized Digital: Bringing a humanized, digital-first experience to life
by Monty Hamilton
Chief Digital Officer, TELUS
There's never been a more important time in our lives to be connected – the already blurred line between our physical and digital lives has all but dissolved. The functional benefits of digital are undeniable: Digital technology and experiences have allowed us all to do what we want to do faster, cheaper and better than ever before. This presentation will provide insight on how TELUS is enabling humanized, digital-first experiences built on trust, empathy and emotional connection.
Monty is the Chief Digital Officer at TELUS – a world-leading communications and information technology company at the forefront of telecommunications, health, and agriculture in Canada and beyond. As Chief Digital Officer, Monty is driving the digitization of the entire organization: aligning customer, business and technology priorities to unlock remarkable human outcomes, digitally. Monty draws on over 20 years of experience driving digital transformation globally as a former Partner at PwC Australia, co-founder of UBank (Australia's leading digital bank) as well as co-founder of Belong (Australia's best direct telco).
