The Second UKAN+ Connecting SIGs Event

Dear UKAN+ members,

UKAN+ is organising a series of Connecting SIGs events, the aim of which is to enable members across all special interest groups (SIGs) to learn more about the research conducted in other SIGs and to connect with other researchers. This should especially benefit early career members, who might have not had a chance to find out more about research that other UKAN+ members are carrying out due to pandemic-induced restrictions. Four events will be held, each highlighting the activities relating to four of the UKAN+ SIGs. We believe that these events will result in networking opportunities and potential future collaborations, as well as offering exposure to an interdisciplinary audience across both academia and industry.

We are happy to announce that the second Connecting SIGs event on Wellbeing & Health will be held at 3-5 pm on Thursday 24th February (UK time), as fully virtual event (Zoom). The three SIGs presenting in this event will be Biomedical Acoustics, Hearing and Spatial Acoustics and Immersive Audio.

The program of the event consists of four parts (each about 30-minutes):

1. General overview presentations by each of the three SIGs
2. Series of 3-minute pitch presentations highlighting ongoing research projects
   • Alissa Silva (University College London) – Whole-Body Small Animal Imaging System
   • Julia Tomaszewska (University of West London) – Diagnosis of Respiratory System Conditions using Audio Samples, Artificial Neural Networks and Bioimpedance Sensors
   • Maxim Cherkashin (University College London) – Harnessing the power of ultrasound for deeper optical imaging
   • Clément Gaultier (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit) – Bridging signal processing, hearing science, acoustics and machine learning for speech enhancement with cochlear implants
   • Ben Williges (University of Cambridge) – Acoustic factors influencing spatial hearing and localisation in cochlear implant users
   • Kevin Sum (Imperial College London) – Spatial Hearing Augmentation for Hearing Impairment
   • Alastair Moore (Imperial College London) – Evaluating hearing aid effectiveness under realistic listening conditions using virtual reality
   • Seba Ausili (University of Miami) – The Multi-sensory Spatial Lab at the University of Miami
   • Alaa Algargoosh (Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University) – The impact of the acoustic environment on human emotion and experience: A case study of worship spaces
   • Arnaud Tournier (Imperial College London) – A meta-learning approach to HRTF individualisation
   • Rapolas Daugintis (Imperial College London) – Development of Auditory-Model-Aided Non-Individual HRTF Selection Procedure
3. Networking session in breakout rooms to connect across SIGs
4. Featured talk by Dr Owen Brimijoin (Meta Reality Labs): Head movement, sound coloration, and the HRTF inverse problem

Registration for this event is now closed.

Once registered, you will receive an email with the Zoom link for joining the event on 23 February.

If you have questions or need further information, please send an email to tobias.goehring@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk

Organisers:
Aidan Hogg, Eugenio Donati, Robert MacKinnon, Tobias Goehring