April Meeting Notice

April 2006 Meeting Notice

 Subject: Recent advancements in algorithms for audio DSP
 Speakers: Mike Goodwin, Jean Laroche, Jean-Marc Jot
 Place: The Creative Advanced Technology Center (ATC)
 Time and Date: April 11th 7.30 ( refreshments at 7.00pm)


The Creative Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Scotts Valley, CA develops next-generation audio processing algorithms, software, and hardware for products such as PC sound cards, portable players, and speakers. A common theme in much of this technology is the use of frequency-domain digital signal processing to optimize the resulting
audio experience. This month's meeting provides an introduction to these novel audio enhancements via brief presentations (with sound examples) by three ATC research scientists.

Soft-Decision Transient Detection and Modification  - Mike Goodwin

This talk will describe a modular framework for audio enhancement and customization based on meaningful perceptual attributes and flexible sound design parameterization. We will focus on a specific module for transient processing, demonstrating how a soft-decision approach can overcome the artifacts of binary detection and how nonlinear frequency-domain processing can provide high-fidelity signal modifications that are perceptually gratifying.

Frequency-Domain Voice Transformation - Jean Laroche

This presentation will describe an FFT-based approach to voice transformation. Applications include voice disguise for internet telephony, voice quality improvement for radio, speaker conversion for dictionary-based text-to-speech synthesis, etc. The algorithm operates in real-time on a frequency domain version of the speech signal, and makes use of an estimate of the pitch to move individual harmonics along the frequency axis. Many real-time sound examples will be provided.

Delivering Spatial Audio via Speakers and Headphones - Jean-Marc Jot

This talk will describe recent advances in the creation of compelling spatial audio listening experiences both for games and for music. The principles and applications of Creative's CMSS-3D spatial audio enhancement technologies for playback of music or movie soundtracks over headphones and two-channel or multi-channel loudspeakers systems will be presented. The OpenAL/EAX environmental audio scene description model and its application to interactive virtual acoustics in games will be reviewed.

Speakers:

Mike Goodwin has been a Research Scientist at Creative ATC for six years. He received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering at MIT in 1992 and his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1997. His research interests range from parametric audio coding to microphone arrays, and he is currently focusing on signal enhancement and next-generation spatial audio algorithms.

Jean Laroche has been a Research Scientist at Creative ATC for ten years. He received his M.S. from Ecole Polytechnique and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Telecom Paris, France in 1989 and spent
five years as a professor at Telecom Paris. His professional interests center around audio and music signal processing, with occasional excursions into acoustics, speech processing and noise reduction.

Jean-Marc Jot has been with Creative ATC for nearly eight years. He received his Doctorate from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, Paris, in 1992. In 1992, he joined the Room Acoustics team at IRCAM, Paris, where he led the Spatialisateur project. He is the principal author of the IA-SIG 3D Audio Level 2 rendering guideline, and has contributed to the 3D audio scene description models in the MPEG-4 standard.

Directions to ATC can be found at http://www.atc.creative.com/atc_new/atc_directions.htm
          From Silicon Valley take Highway 17 south towards Santa Cruz. Take the second Scotts Valley exit (Mt Hermon Road), and turn right at the light at the end of the exit on to Mt. Hermon Road. Turn right again at the next light on to Glen Canyon. Follow it under the highway, and turn left at the stop sign onto Green Hills Road.

          From Santa Cruz take Highway 17 north towards San Jose. Take the first Scotts Valley exit (Mt Hermon Road), and continue straight through the light at the end of the exit on to Mt. Hermon Road. Turn right at the next light on to Glen Canyon. Follow it under the highway, and turn left at the stop sign onto Green Hills Road.

          You will now be driving back north alongside Highway 17. In a short distance, you'll come to a small industrial park with three buildings on the right. Creative ATC is located in the first of these three, at 1500 Green Hills Road. Park in the parking lot at front or on the street and enter via the large front doors facing the street. Go up the stairway towards the left to Suite 205.

Address:

Creative Advanced Technology Center
1500 Green Hills Road #205
Scotts Valley, CA 95066