[AUDITORY] Open PhD position - Idiap Research Institute

[Ina Kodrasi <ina.kodrasi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Idiap Research Institute seeks qualified candidates for one PhD 
student position in the field of speech signal processing for the 
automatic characterization of motor speech disorders. Details about the 
position and the application form can be found at 
https://www.idiap.ch/education-and-jobs/job-10325.

The research will be conducted in the framework of the Swiss NSF 
Sinergia project ChaSpeePro (Characterisation of motor speech disorders 
and processes). This is a consortium project that involves Idiap, 
University of Geneva, University of Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, and 
Geneva University Hospitals.

Various conditions of brain damage may disrupt the speech production 
mechanism, resulting in motor speech disorders that encapsulate altered 
speech production in different dimensions. To diagnose motor speech 
disorders, clinicians exploit perceptual assessments typically involving 
detection by ear of clinical-perceptual signs of disrupted speech, e.g., 
articulation deficiencies, vowel quality changes, pitch variation, or 
rhythm disruptions. These assessments are subject to the expertise of 
the clinician and can be time-consuming. To complement the clinical 
perceptual assessment, the successful PhD candidate will research novel 
automatic speech processing approaches. Such approaches should be able 
to cope with realistic clinical constraints (i.e., (i) the presence of 
noise and reverberation when recording speech in clinical settings and 
(ii) easy and fast availability of spontaneous speech as opposed to 
controlled speech tasks) and needs (i.e., provide interpretable feedback 
to clinicians).

The ideal PhD candidate should hold a Masters degree in electrical 
engineering, computer science, or related fields. They should have a 
background in statistics, applied mathematics, optimization, linear 
algebra and signal processing. The applicant should also have strong 
programming skills.

The successful PhD candidate will join the Signal Processing for 
Communication group at Idiap (https://www.idiap.ch/spc), under the 
supervision of Ina Kodrasi. They will also become a doctoral student at 
EPFL (http://www.epfl.ch) conditional on parallel application to, and 
acceptance by, the EPFL Doctoral School (http://phd.epfl.ch/applicants). 
Appointment for the PhD position is for a maximum of 4 years, provided 
successful progress, and should lead to a dissertation. Starting date is 
to be negotiated. The annual gross salary in the first year is 52,400 
Swiss Francs. All queries related to the advertised position can be sent 
to ina.kodrasi@xxxxxxxx.

At Idiap we place great emphasis on diversity and strongly encourage 
individuals from underrepresented groups to apply.