Workshops/Think-Tanks


There is no extra cost connected with the think-tanks. Participation in a single workshop costs 15 EUR (if payment is made before the end of May) and 30 EUR for participation in all three (20 EUR and 40 EUR respectively if payment is made after May 31st). Conference participants who wish to take part in any of the think-tanks or workshops should sign up by emailing info[at]icad2013.com


Sonification Think-Tank

Traditional ICAD meeting where students are encouraged to discuss their research with more experienced researchers in a less formal setting. Participants should prepare a 3-5 min talk (no presentation) about their ongoing or planned projects and a short list of questions to ask from the faculty and other participants. Please email a copy of this as soon as possible and no later than by 30 June, to the think-tank coordinator, Dr David Worrall (The Australian National University and the Fraunhofer IIS, Germany) David.Worrall[at]anu.edu.au


Assistive Technology Think-Tank

As part of the 19th International Conference on Auditory Display, we are running an Assistive Technology Think-Tank (ATTT) to discuss and provide feedback on projects aimed at assisting the blind. The think-tank will be organized by two blind researchers - Tony Stockman from Queen Mary, University of London, and Rafal Charlampowicz the assistive tech. reviewer for Tyfloswiat. We also expect the presence of several blind persons who will take part in the discussion. This event therefore provides an excellent opportunity to obtain feedback on your project ideas and make connections with potential users.
Participants will be expected to prepare short 10min non-visual presentations of your research to discuss with the group.


Python sonification workshop

Python is a popular, easily learnt general-purpose programming language which can serve as a glue language to connect together many separate software components in a simple and flexible manner. It can also be used as a high-level modular framework for controlling low-level operations implemented by subroutine libraries in other languages.

This introductory workshop will provide a hand's on introduction to using these features of Python for data sonification and auditory display. The workshop will be conducted by Dr. David Worrall from the Australian National University. Participants do not need to bring their own laptops, they are encouraged to bring headphones.


Arduino sonification workshop (Mozzi)

Currently your Arduino can only beep like a microwave oven. Mozzi brings the Arduino to life by allowing it to produce much more complex and interesting growls, sweeps and chorusing atmospherics. Mozzi can be used to generate algorithmic music for an installation, wearable sounds for a performance, or interactive sonifications of sensors, on a small, modular and super cheap Arduino, without the hassle of additional hardware, message passing or external synths. Mozzi sounds can be quickly and easily constructed from familiar synthesis units like oscillators, delays, filters and envelopes, and as Mozzi is open source, you can contribute your own extensions to the community.

The workshop will be conducted by Dr. Stephen Barrass from the University of Canberra, Australia. Participants are required to bring laptops, headphones and their own Arduino boards (a few extra boards will be available, but please request them ahead of time by email). Please, also download Mozzi before the workshop.


HRTF workshop

Filtering sounds using head related transfer functions (HRTFs) is a well known method of synthesizing spatialized binaural sound. The workshop will discuss advantages and disadvantages of several HRTF measurement methods, from dummy-head techniques to individual measurements, from impulse responses (HRIR) to frequency responses (HRTF), from headphone equalization to head-tracking systems, as well as common storage formats and examples of software implementation. Workshop participants will also have an oppurtunity to measure their own individual HRTF sets using the university's equipment in an anechoic chamber (resolution: 5deg azimuth, 9deg elevation, 128 filter coefficients).

The workshop will be conducted by Dr. Gyorgy Wersenyi from Szechenyi Istvan University, Hungary with the help of Dr. Michal Bujacz from the Lodz University of Technology, Poland and prof. Agnieszka Roginska from New York University, USA.