Speech processing is transitioning to wider bandwidths. Benefits include increased intelligibility and comprehension, and a better communication experience. High quality, full-duplex Acoustic Echo Cancellation is an integral component of a hands-free speakerphone system. The challenge is to develop a robust Acoustic Echo Canceller that processes full-band audio signals while maintaining low computational complexity and reasonable memory consumption for an affordable telepresence experience.
Phil Hetherington is Director of R&D at QNX, where he is responsible for all research, development, and quality assurance activities relating to speech and automotive acoustics. Prior to joining QNX, he developed three software programs for the analysis of neural clusters (AUTOCUT), hippocampal place fields (PFA), and genetic arrays (GAE). He holds over 47 patents in acoustics processing, and is an accomplished author and presenter. Phil has a B.A. in Psychology from Brock University, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McGill University.
Scott Pennock is Senior Hands-Free Standards Specialist at QNX. Before joining QNX, he was a Lead Acoustic Test Engineer at Apple, a Senior Systems Engineer at OnStar researching speech enhancement technologies, and a Speech Technologies Specialist at Lucent, also working on speech enhancment technologies. He holds a B.S. in Experimental/Cognitive Psychology from Michigan State University, and an Masters degree in Applied Psychology from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Shreyas (Shree) Paranjpe is a Team Lead in the QNX Acoustics group. His team researches and develops speech enhancement algorithms implemented for tasks such as acoustic echo cancellation and noise reduction. Before joining QNX, Shree was a DSP Engineer for a number of audio companies, including Kurzweil Music Systems and Lexicon. He has contributed to the development of a number of music synthesis and music effects algorithms, and has designed DSP architectures for custom audio processing chips. Shree received a B.A.Sc. (Bachelor of Applied Science) in Engineering Physics from Simon Fraser University.
12/01/10
Phil Hetherington
Scott Pennock
Shreyas Paranjpe