Dear colleagues,
If you are developing neural speech codecs for low-resource environments, we encourage you to participate in the 2026 LRAC Challenge. The competition runs until September 30, but the registration is
open only until September 9, so make sure you don't miss the deadline!
Why this matters:
- Tackle the triple challenge of low compute, low latency, and low bitrate in noisy, real‑world scenarios across two focused tracks: transparency and enhancement.
- Combine objective and crowdsourced perceptual evaluation to validate your approach.
- Showcase your work at the ICASSP 2026 Satellite Workshop in Barcelona, with an opportunity for student travel grants (up to US$1,500).
Quick timeline:
- Now–Sep 9: Registration open
- Aug 1–Sep 30: Development phase (open test submissions)
- Oct 1: 2-page system report deadline
- Oct 22: 4-page ICASSP paper deadline (mandatory only for students applying for travel support grants)
- May 4, 2026: Workshop at ICASSP 2026
For more information, please see the Call for Participation.
Don't miss this chance to benchmark your ideas and engage with peers at the forefront of efficient speech coding!
Best regards,
The LRAC Challenge Team