AES Fall Convention 2022

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Heyser Lecture - The Twists and Turns of a Career in Audio

Audio engineering is truly a multi-disciplinary field that combines aspects of room acoustics, psychoacoustics, spatial perception, analog and digital signal processing, mathematics, electromagnetics, computer modeling, psychology, musicality and artistry. Working in audio allows you to try your hand in completely different areas while still moving toward the same goal. For me, the AES has always served as the primary crossroads between these various fields, and is the unique place where diverse viewpoints from all disciplines can come together. In this talk, I will discuss some of the research and product development work that I have done over the years, including a look at subjective listening test methods, spatial perception and immersion, loudness perception and metering, and sound source separation. During the unexpected winding path that my career has taken, I have had the great privilege of meeting and working with some of the "big names" in the world of audio and acoustics.  I will share anecdotes about some of these encounters and how they influenced my path forward, including a notable encounter with Richard Heyser early on in my career.