Subject: [AUDITORY] ICASSP Grand Challenge: Lyric Intelligibility Prediction From: Trevor Cox <0000017832c3f089-dmarc-request@xxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2025 08:15:51 +0000--_000_AS1PR01MB101046D9A87B194B68B4EF37CED07AAS1PR01MB10104eu_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This ICASSP signal processing challenge is now live and the data ready to d= ownload at https://cadenzachallenge.org/ Cadenza is working to improve music for those with hearing loss. Hearing lo= ss is a growing global problem due to the aging population and increased ex= posure to loud sound. Hearing loss can make picking out lyrics more difficu= lt. In speech technology, having metrics to automatically evaluate intelligibil= ity has driven improvements in speech enhancement. We want to do the same f= or music. There has been little research into Lyric Intelligibility Predict= ion, so there is lots of scope to learn from Speech Intelligibility Predict= ion and Music Information Retrieval and do novel research. The top 5 ranked teams will be invited to submit papers to ICASSP-2026, Bar= celona, Spain. We will challenge entrants to develop systems that predict lyric intelligib= ility from song excerpts of popular Western music. The systems will take st= ereo audio as input and estimate the word correct rate a listener is likely= to achieve in a perceptual test. What will be provided: * A new dataset with thousands of paired song excerpts with intelligibility s= cores for training and evaluation. * Song excerpts will be presented either unprocessed or with mild or moderate= hearing loss simulated. * Software baseline. * A leaderboard Important Dates: * 1st Sept 2025: Challenge launch. * 3rd Nov 2025: Release of evaluation data. * 17th Nov 2025: Teams submit intelligibility predictions and technical repor= ts. * 1st Dec 2025: Results released. Top 5 ranked teams invited to submit papers= to ICASSP-2026. * 7th Dec 2025: Invited papers submitted to ICASSP-2026. * 4-8th May 2026: Overview paper and invited papers presented at ICASSP-2026 = special session. Trevor Cox Professor of Acoustic Engineering Newton Building, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK. Mobile: 07986 557419 www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk @xxxxxxxx --_000_AS1PR01MB101046D9A87B194B68B4EF37CED07AAS1PR01MB10104eu_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head> <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-= 1"> <style type=3D"text/css" style=3D"display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bo= ttom:0;} </style> </head> <body dir=3D"ltr"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt;" class=3D"elementToProof"> <span style=3D"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This ICASSP signal processing challeng= e is now live and the data ready to download at </span><span style=3D"color: rgb(70, 120, 134);"><u><a style=3D"color: rgb(= 70, 120, 134);" title=3D"https://cadenzachallenge.org/" class=3D"OWAAutoLin= k" id=3D"OWA41262062-c3ca-8622-8af6-1095e1a1c6cd" href=3D"https://cadenzach= allenge.org/">https://cadenzachallenge.org/</a></u></span></div> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> Cadenza is working to improve music for those with hearing loss. Hearing lo= ss is a growing global problem due to the aging population and increased ex= posure to loud sound. Hearing loss can make picking out lyrics more difficu= lt.</div> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> In speech technology, having metrics to automatically evaluate intelligibil= ity has driven improvements in speech enhancement. We want to do the same f= or music. There has been little research into Lyric Intelligibility Pr= ediction, so there is lots of scope to learn from Speech Intelligibility Prediction and Music Information Retriev= al and do novel research.</div> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> The top 5 ranked teams will be invited to submit papers to ICASSP-2026, Bar= celona, Spain.</div> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> We will challenge entrants to develop systems that predict lyric intelligib= ility from song excerpts of popular Western music. The systems will take st= ereo audio as input and estimate the word correct rate a listener is likely= to achieve in a perceptual test.</div> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> What will be provided:</div> <ul style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; list-style-type: disc;" d= ata-editing-info=3D"{"applyListStyleFromLevel":true}"> <li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, C= alibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin= -right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> A new dataset with thousands of paired song excerpts with intelligibility s= cores for training and evaluation.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> Song excerpts will be presented either unprocessed or with mild or moderate= hearing loss simulated.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> Software baseline.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> A leaderboard</div> </li></ul> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; font-family: Aptos, = Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo= nt-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=3D"elementToProof"> Important Dates:</div> <ul style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; list-style-type: disc;" d= ata-editing-info=3D"{"applyListStyleFromLevel":true}"> <li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, C= alibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin= -right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 1st Sept 2025: Challenge launch.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 3rd Nov 2025: Release of evaluation data.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 17th Nov 2025: Teams submit intelligibility predictions and technical repor= ts.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 1st Dec 2025: Results released. Top 5 ranked teams invited to submit p= apers to ICASSP-2026.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 7th Dec 2025: Invited papers submitted to ICASSP-2026.</div> </li><li style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontServi= ce, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); m= argin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm;"> <div style=3D"line-height: 1.284; margin-top: 0cm; margin-bottom: 8pt;" rol= e=3D"presentation" class=3D"elementToProof"> 4-8th May 2026: Overview paper and invited papers presented at ICASSP-2026 = special session.</div> </li></ul> <div style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, = Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" clas= s=3D"elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div class=3D"elementToProof" id=3D"Signature"> <div style=3D"font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, = Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" clas= s=3D"elementToProof"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;" class=3D"elementToProo= f"><span style=3D"color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Trevor Cox<br> Professor of Acoustic Engineering<br> Newton Building, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK.<br> Mobile: 07986 557419<br> www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk<br> @xxxxxxxx</span><br> </div> </div> </body> </html> --_000_AS1PR01MB101046D9A87B194B68B4EF37CED07AAS1PR01MB10104eu_--