Dear subscribers of the colloquium newsletter,

we are happy to inform you about the next date of our Communication Technology Colloquium.

Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Speaker: Pattaratorn Santivarakom
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: hybrid - Lecture room 4G and
https://rwth.zoom.us/j/61215027648?pwd=MTJvayt5bkdka04raWZVempPZGE0Zz09

                    Meeting-ID: 612 1502 7648
                    Passwort: 380386

Master-Lecture:

Characterization of Pickup Systems for Body-Conducted Speech

Body-conducted speech refers to vibrations resulting from speech production that are transmitted through the body. Its use presents a promising possibility to improve speech enhancement performance in noisy environments due to its greater robustness against environmental noise compared to air-conducted speech. Hearable devices such as earbuds and headphones, often used in such conditions (e.g, on public transport or in a café), could benefit from utilizing body-conducted speech. However, the questions of how and where body-conducted speech can be optimally recorded for hearable devices have been rarely investigated. In this thesis, five promising pickup locations for body-conducted speech around the ear are investigated, and their potential is evaluated for subsequent signal processing. We observed a strong low-pass characteristic in the recorded body-conducted speech and similar sensitivity towards environmental noise at the tested pickup locations. Applying pressure on the skin results in more vibration being recorded. In practice, a hearable device can affect the frequency characteristic of the recorded speech due to its physical properties. Among the tested pickup locations, body-conducted speech is most effectively recorded at condyle. A consistent frequency characteristic can be achieved by restricting the fit of the hearable device.

All interested parties are cordially invited, registration is not required.

General information on the colloquium, as well as a current list of dates of the Communication Technology Colloquium can be found at:
https://www.iks.rwth-aachen.de/aktuelles/kolloquium

Simone Sedgwick
Secretariat
Institute of Communication Systems(IKS)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Jax
RWTH Aachen University
Muffeter Weg 3a, 52074 Aachen, Germany
+49 241 80 26956(phone)
+49 241 80 22254(fax) 
sedgwick@iks.rwth-aachen.de
https://www.iks.rwth-aachen.de/