Episode 76 Audioscenic Binaural Audio Over Speakers (Part 2)

Automotive

Viewing posts tagged Automotive

Episode 76 Audioscenic Binaural Audio Over Speakers (Part 2)

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel travels to Southampton, UK, to visit the HQ of Audioscenic, whose mission is to revolutionise and pivot binaural audio over speakers to the masses. Their team developed technology that uses real-time head tracking and sound-field control to create virtual headphones that render personal 3D Audio to the listener’s position. Their first commercial success came in the form of a partnership with Razer and the subsequent release of Leviathan V2 Pro Soundbar, which was announced in early 2023 at CES. Since then,  their technology received a number of tech awards and mainly the support of the user community. We sat down with the core team members and the early adopters to find out where it all started and where it is heading.

Listen to Podcast

Marcos Simón (Co-Founder, CTO) Marcos Simón graduated in 2010 from the Technical University of Madrid with a B.Sc. in telecommunications. In 2011, he joined the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, where he worked with loudspeaker arrays for sound field control and 3D audio rendering and also in the modelling of cochlear mechanics. He obtained his PhD title in 2014, and between 2014 and 2019, he was part of the S3A Research Programme “Future Spatial Audio for an Immersive Listening Experience at Home”. In 2019 he co-founded Audioscenic to commercialise innovative listener-adaptive audio technologies, where he currently works as Chief Technical Officer. Since the company’s creation, Marcos has been leading the vision of Audioscenic and established himself as a nexus between the commercial and technical world for the start-up, ensuring that the technology is continually evolving and that the customers understand exactly what the technology makes possible.

Professor Filippo Fazi (Co-Founder/Chief Scientist) Prof Fazi is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Audioscenic Ltd, where he leads the scientific development of new audio technologies and contributes to the company’s strategic decisions.  He is also a Professor of Acoustics and Signal Processing at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) of the University of Southampton, where he is the Head of the Acoustics Group and the Virtual Acoustics and Audio Engineering teams. He also served as Director of Research at the Institute and sits on the Intellectual Property panel of the Faculty of Engineering of Physical Sciences.  He is an internationally recognised expert in audio technologies, electroacoustics and digital signal processing, with a special focus on 3D audio, acoustical inverse problems, multi-channel systems, and acoustic arrays. He is the author of more than 160 scientific publications and co-inventor of Audioscenic’s patented or patent-pending technologies.  Prof Fazi graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Brescia (Italy) in 2005 with a master’s thesis on room acoustics. He obtained his PhD in acoustics from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research in 2010, with a thesis on sound field reproduction. Prof Fazi was awarded a research fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010 and the Tyndall Medal by the Institute of Acoustics in 2018. He is a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society and a member of the Institute of Acoustics.

David Monteith (CEO) David is the Chief Executive Office of Audioscenic Ltd, responsible for the strategic direction of the business. David holds a Master’s degree in Physics, in Opto-Electronics and an MBA. David began his career developing optical fibre components before joining EMI Central Research Laboratories, where he led the creation of spin-out Sensaura Ltd. The company’s 3D Audio technology shipped with the Microsoft Xbox and on over 500 million PCs. The Sensaura business was sold to Creative Labs. In 2001 David was part of the Sensaura team that received the Royal Academy of Engineering Mac Robert Award for innovation in engineering. In 2003 David founded Sonaptic Ltd.  In his role as CEO, David led the company to licence its audio technology to Mobile phone vendors and portable games platforms such as the Sony PSP. Sonaptic was sold to Wolfson Semiconductors in 2007. David then held the VP of Business Development position in Wolfson, bringing to market the first Wolfson ANC chip featuring the Sonaptic technology. From 2010- 16 David was CEO/founder of Incus Laboratories. Incus developed and licensed its novel digital ANC technology to companies such as Yamaha before being acquired by AMS AG. In 2019 David joined Audioscenic, working with Marcos and Filippo to raise the initial Seed investment. 

Daniel Wallace (R&D Lead) Daniel studied acoustical engineering at the University of Southampton ISVR, graduating in 2016, then started a PhD at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Next-Generation Computational Modelling. His PhD project was on multi-zone sound field control, specifically for producing private listening zones. Since joining Audioscenic as R&D Lead in 2021, he’s turned ideas into products. Daniel firmly believes that for their technology to be successfully deployed into products, the user experience must be flawless; this means testing lots of edge cases in code and in the lab to make sure that when users sit down in front of our soundbar, it just works and gives them an amazing impression. 

Joe Guarini (Creative Director) Joe is a sound designer who has specialised in 3D audio content creation for over ten years.  He won the jury prize for best binaural sound design in the 2014 Mixage Fou international sound competition, in addition to having his works featured in video games, film trailers, television commercials, and demonstrations at CES.  Joe has been working with the Audioscenic team since 2017 to provide listeners with sounds that highlight the immersive qualities of the audio hardware.  His contributions include creating computer game experiences where players can walk through, and interact with, sounds in 3D space.  Joe’s passion is helping people see the full capabilities of 3D audio technology, which is why he chose to join forces with Audioscenic.

Martin Rieger (VRTonung) Martin Rieger is a sound engineer with years of experience in immersive audio. His studio VRTonung specialises in 360° sound recordings and 3D audio postproduction, making him the auditory contact point for the complete realisation of XR projects from creative storytelling at the beginning until the technical implementation. He is also running the most dedicated blog on 3d audio vrtonung.de/blog, setting guidelines for making spatial audio more accessible and building a foundation for the next generation of immersive content. Martin is a certified delegate of the German Institute for vocational training, teaching teachers what immersive audio means in various media with or without visuals, head tracking or interactive elements. This will set the background for the new job profile “designer for immersive media”.

Show Notes

Audioscenic Official Website – https://www.audioscenic.com/

University of Southampton – https://www.southampton.ac.uk/

Razer Official Website – https://www.razer.com/

Razer Leviathan V2 Pro – https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-speakers/razer-leviathan-v2-pro

Marcos Simón LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmfsg/

Filippo Fazi LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/filippo-fazi-4a822443/

David Monteith LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-monteith-8a66221/

Daniel Wallace LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwallace42/

Joe Gaurini – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-guarini-695b8053/

Martin Rieger – https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-rieger/

VRTonung – https://www.vrtonung.de/en/blog/

Survey

We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

Episode 75 Audioscenic Binaural Audio Over Speakers (Part 1)

Summary

In this episode of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel travels to Southampton, UK, to visit the HQ of Audioscenic, whose mission is to revolutionise and pivot binaural audio over speakers to the masses. Their team developed technology that uses real-time head tracking and sound-field control to create virtual headphones that render personal 3D Audio to the listener’s position. Their first commercial success came in the form of a partnership with Razer and the subsequent release of Leviathan V2 Pro Soundbar, which was announced in early 2023 at CES. Since then,  their technology received a number of tech awards and mainly the support of the user community. We sat down with the core team members and the early adopters to find out where it all started and where it is heading.

Listen to Podcast

Marcos Simón (Co-Founder, CTO)

Marcos Simón graduated in 2010 from the Technical University of Madrid with a B.Sc. in telecommunications. In 2011, he joined the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, where he worked with loudspeaker arrays for sound field control and 3D audio rendering and also in the modelling of cochlear mechanics. He obtained his PhD title in 2014, and between 2014 and 2019, he was part of the S3A Research Programme “Future Spatial Audio for an Immersive Listening Experience at Home”. In 2019 he co-founded Audioscenic to commercialise innovative listener-adaptive audio technologies, where he currently works as Chief Technical Officer. Since the company’s creation, Marcos has been leading the vision of Audioscenic and established himself as a nexus between the commercial and technical world for the start-up, ensuring that the technology is continually evolving and that the customers understand exactly what the technology makes possible.  

Professor Filippo Fazi (Co-Founder/Chief Scientist)

Prof Fazi is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Audioscenic Ltd, where he leads the scientific development of new audio technologies and contributes to the company’s strategic decisions.  He is also a Professor of Acoustics and Signal Processing at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) of the University of Southampton, where he is the Head of the Acoustics Group and the Virtual Acoustics and Audio Engineering teams. He also served as Director of Research at the Institute and sits on the Intellectual Property panel of the Faculty of Engineering of Physical Sciences.  He is an internationally recognised expert in audio technologies, electroacoustics and digital signal processing, with a special focus on 3D audio, acoustical inverse problems, multi-channel systems, and acoustic arrays. He is the author of more than 160 scientific publications and co-inventor of Audioscenic’s patented or patent-pending technologies.  Prof Fazi graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Brescia (Italy) in 2005 with a master’s thesis on room acoustics. He obtained his PhD in acoustics from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research in 2010, with a thesis on sound field reproduction. Prof Fazi was awarded a research fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010 and the Tyndall Medal by the Institute of Acoustics in 2018. He is a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society and a member of the Institute of Acoustics.

David Monteith (CEO)

David is the Chief Executive Office of Audioscenic Ltd, responsible for the strategic direction of the business. David holds a Master’s degree in Physics, in Opto-Electronics and an MBA. David began his career developing optical fibre components before joining EMI Central Research Laboratories, where he led the creation of spin-out Sensaura Ltd. The company’s 3D Audio technology shipped with the Microsoft Xbox and on over 500 million PCs. The Sensaura business was sold to Creative Labs. In 2001 David was part of the Sensaura team that received the Royal Academy of Engineering Mac Robert Award for innovation in engineering. In 2003 David founded Sonaptic Ltd.  In his role as CEO, David led the company to licence its audio technology to Mobile phone vendors and portable games platforms such as the Sony PSP. Sonaptic was sold to Wolfson Semiconductors in 2007. David then held the VP of Business Development position in Wolfson, bringing to market the first Wolfson ANC chip featuring the Sonaptic technology. From 2010- 16 David was CEO/founder of Incus Laboratories. Incus developed and licensed its novel digital ANC technology to companies such as Yamaha before being acquired by AMS AG. In 2019 David joined Audioscenic, working with Marcos and Filippo to raise the initial Seed investment.

Daniel Wallace (R&D Lead)

Daniel studied acoustical engineering at the University of Southampton ISVR, graduating in 2016, then started a PhD at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Next-Generation Computational Modelling. His PhD project was on multi-zone sound field control, specifically for producing private listening zones. Since joining Audioscenic as R&D Lead in 2021, he’s turned ideas into products. Daniel firmly believes that for their technology to be successfully deployed into products, the user experience must be flawless; this means testing lots of edge cases in code and in the lab to make sure that when users sit down in front of our soundbar, it just works and gives them an amazing impression.

Joe Guarini (Creative Director)

Joe is a sound designer who has specialised in 3D audio content creation for over ten years.  He won the jury prize for best binaural sound design in the 2014 Mixage Fou international sound competition, in addition to having his works featured in video games, film trailers, television commercials, and demonstrations at CES.  Joe has been working with the Audioscenic team since 2017 to provide listeners with sounds that highlight the immersive qualities of the audio hardware.  His contributions include creating computer game experiences where players can walk through, and interact with, sounds in 3D space.  Joe’s passion is helping people see the full capabilities of 3D audio technology, which is why he chose to join forces with Audioscenic.

Martin Rieger (VRTonung)

Martin Rieger is a sound engineer with years of experience in immersive audio. His studio VRTonung specialises in 360° sound recordings and 3D audio postproduction, making him the auditory contact point for the complete realisation of XR projects from creative storytelling at the beginning until the technical implementation. He is also running the most dedicated blog on 3d audio vrtonung.de/blog, setting guidelines for making spatial audio more accessible and building a foundation for the next generation of immersive content. Martin is a certified delegate of the German Institute for vocational training, teaching teachers what immersive audio means in various media with or without visuals, head tracking or interactive elements. This will set the background for the new job profile “designer for immersive media”.

Show Notes

Audioscenic Official Website – https://www.audioscenic.com/

University of Southampton – https://www.southampton.ac.uk/

Razer Official Website – https://www.razer.com/

Razer Leviathan V2 Pro – https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-speakers/razer-leviathan-v2-pro

Marcos Simón LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmfsg/

Filippo Fazi LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/filippo-fazi-4a822443/

David Monteith LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-monteith-8a66221/

Daniel Wallace LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwallace42/

Joe Gaurini – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-guarini-695b8053/

Martin Rieger – https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-rieger/

VRTonung – https://www.vrtonung.de/en/blog/

Survey

We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

Episode 66 Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility (Part 3)

Summary

In this three-part series of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel will travel to Zurich in Switzerland for an exclusive opportunity to speak to the entire Ambeo Mobility team. The use of spatial audio is becoming ever so ubiquitous, it seems that it’s just a matter of time before we get to enjoy immersive content from the comfort of our cars on a regular basis. Join us on this journey to explore and learn about the cutting-edge applications of spatial audio in automotive.

Veronique Larcher (Director)

Dr Veronique Larcher is the Director of AMBEO Immersive Audio, Sennheiser’s brand for immersive audio products and experiences. She is also a founding advisor at Earkick, a startup focused on monitoring anxiety using audio biomarkers, among others. Veronique has over 20 years of experience in the areas of audio and venture building – before launching AMBEO in 2016, she held multiple roles spearheading innovation at Sennheiser, most notably founding and managing their Strategic Innovation office in San Francisco. Veronique holds a PhD in 3D Audio for Virtual Reality from Ircam (France) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Luca Brambilla (Project Manager)

Luca is the project manager of the Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility initiative, part of the founding team of the project and a real car enthusiast. As a car audiophile, he is motivated by bringing innovative audio technology into the most prestigious cars in the industry and is excited by the opportunities the future of mobility hold. His background is in Industrial Engineering, and with a Master’s degree in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich, he is skilled at combining technical knowledge and management expertise. In the team, he covers the role of project coordination, and planning, and is in charge of customer and supplier relations.

Sofia Brazzola (Brand & Marketing Manager)

Sofia is leading Brand & Marketing efforts aimed at the growth of the corporate venture AMBEO Mobility, launching Sennheiser in the automotive industry. She has been in the team for several years under different capacities leveraging her Design Strategy, User Experience and Marketing skills aimed at de-risking and launching product concepts in new opportunity markets for Sennheiser internationally, including VR/AR and immersive music streaming. In her current role, she coordinates digital and event marketing activities designs brand strategies and is responsible for Sennheiser AMBEO’s brand positioning in the automotive world. She recently graduated with an MBA from Imperial College in London and holds a Master’s degree in Design from the Zurich University of the Arts.

Rui Wang (Customer Developer)

Rui is a digital marketer, cross-cultural communicator, and partnership developer. She holds a master’s degree in European and Asian Business Management from the University of Zurich. With four years of experience working with top technology companies, she has a keen understanding of the needs of B2C & B2B clients in the field of innovation. As a bridge between the West and the East within the Sennheiser AMBEO team, she takes pride in providing market insights and data-driven business strategies. In addition to her primary job functions, she has been certified as a Data Analyst with Python for her commitment to data analysis.

Lorenz Bucher (Software Architect)

Lorenz Bucher is part of Sennheiser’s interdisciplinary AMBEO Mobility team. As a software architect, he’s eagerly striving to shape the future of automotive sound experiences and leading Sennheiser towards software excellence. He has a background in electrical engineering and spent many years of his career developing embedded audio DSP systems and implementing audio algorithms for high-end professional mixing consoles and consumer electronics. Being an avid musician in his spare time, Lorenz has found the sweet spot where he can combine his love for music with his passion for tweaking the technology to create the ‘wow’.

Sofia Checa (Software Engineer)

Sofia is a software engineer specializing in spatial audio. She has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Yale University and is also a classically trained cellist. She joined the team in 2019 to help create the first AMBEO Mobility Demo Car and has been fascinated with the project ever since. Sofia loves her job because it allows her to tap into both her technical side and her artistic side each and every day. Her responsibilities range from writing code to critical listening to developing demo experiences.

Henrik Oppermann (Head of Sound)

Henrik Oppermann (M.Mus.) is a leading 3D sound specialist, bringing with him over 15 years of experience in recording studio-quality audio on location for film, advertising, music industry clients and 3D sound installations. Henrik has worked on over 150 VR and AR projects, capturing 3D audio in a number of challenging environments, including low-flying military aircraft, formula one race cars, refugee camps, mountain peaks and concert halls around the world. An expert in his field, Henrik has developed hardware and software audio applications and workflows for VR collaboration with leading sound partners, to deliver the best possible Immersive Sound. Henrik joined Sennheiser AMBEO Immersive Audio as the Head of Sound in February 2022.

Hans-Martin Buff has been a Recording engineer and music producer since 1993, when he graduated from Music Tech vocational college in Minneapolis, USA. He began his career at Pachyderm Studios, where he made excellent coffee and then proceeded to hone his studio chops by assisting on projects such as Live’s million-seller “Throwing Copper”. Hans-Martin worked his way through various Minnesota rock’n’roll factories before he found a more permanent home at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, whose personal engineer he became and remained for four funky years. During this period he wasn’t only responsible for His Purple Majesty’s recordings, but also for the studio affairs of world-renowned artists, including No Doubt, Chaka Khan and Larry Graham. Being a native of Germany, Hans-Martin Buff relocated to his home country in 2001, where he continued his career as an independent recording engineer and producer, and where he has since mixed and recorded a host of national and international talent, such as Mousse T., Joss Stone, Zucchero, Eric Burdon, Roachford, Maxi Priest and the Scorpions. Since 2018, Hans-Martin has explored the subject 3D-Audio for headphones, and he is now considered an industry expert. He has written a book on the subject and holds an “MA in Immersive Music Production”.

Listen to Podcast

Show Notes

Sennheiser – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com

Immersive Audio – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo

AMBEO Mobility Official Page – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo-mobility

AMBEO Mobility LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ambeo-mobility

Survey

We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

Episode 65 Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility (Part 2)

Summary

In this three-part series of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel will travel to Zurich in Switzerland for an exclusive opportunity to speak to the entire Ambeo Mobility team. The use of spatial audio is becoming ever so ubiquitous, it seems that it’s just a matter of time before we get to enjoy immersive content from the comfort of our cars on a regular basis. Join us on this journey to explore and learn about the cutting-edge applications of spatial audio in automotive.

Veronique Larcher (Director)

Dr Veronique Larcher is the Director of AMBEO Immersive Audio, Sennheiser’s brand for immersive audio products and experiences. She is also a founding advisor at Earkick, a startup focused on monitoring anxiety using audio biomarkers, among others. Veronique has over 20 years of experience in the areas of audio and venture building – before launching AMBEO in 2016, she held multiple roles spearheading innovation at Sennheiser, most notably founding and managing their Strategic Innovation office in San Francisco. Veronique holds a PhD in 3D Audio for Virtual Reality from Ircam (France) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Luca Brambilla (Project Manager)

Luca is the project manager of the Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility initiative, part of the founding team of the project and a real car enthusiast. As a car audiophile, he is motivated by bringing innovative audio technology into the most prestigious cars in the industry and is excited by the opportunities the future of mobility hold. His background is in Industrial Engineering, and with a Master’s degree in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich, he is skilled at combining technical knowledge and management expertise. In the team, he covers the role of project coordination, and planning, and is in charge of customer and supplier relations.

Sofia Brazzola (Brand & Marketing Manager)

Sofia is leading Brand & Marketing efforts aimed at the growth of the corporate venture AMBEO Mobility, launching Sennheiser in the automotive industry. She has been in the team for several years under different capacities leveraging her Design Strategy, User Experience and Marketing skills aimed at de-risking and launching product concepts in new opportunity markets for Sennheiser internationally, including VR/AR and immersive music streaming. In her current role, she coordinates digital and event marketing activities designs brand strategies and is responsible for Sennheiser AMBEO’s brand positioning in the automotive world. She recently graduated with an MBA from Imperial College in London and holds a Master’s degree in Design from the Zurich University of the Arts.

Rui Wang (Customer Developer)

Rui is a digital marketer, cross-cultural communicator, and partnership developer. She holds a master’s degree in European and Asian Business Management from the University of Zurich. With four years of experience working with top technology companies, she has a keen understanding of the needs of B2C & B2B clients in the field of innovation. As a bridge between the West and the East within the Sennheiser AMBEO team, she takes pride in providing market insights and data-driven business strategies. In addition to her primary job functions, she has been certified as a Data Analyst with Python for her commitment to data analysis.

Lorenz Bucher (Software Architect)

Lorenz Bucher is part of Sennheiser’s interdisciplinary AMBEO Mobility team. As a software architect, he’s eagerly striving to shape the future of automotive sound experiences and leading Sennheiser towards software excellence. He has a background in electrical engineering and spent many years of his career developing embedded audio DSP systems and implementing audio algorithms for high-end professional mixing consoles and consumer electronics. Being an avid musician in his spare time, Lorenz has found the sweet spot where he can combine his love for music with his passion for tweaking the technology to create the ‘wow’.

Sofia Checa (Software Engineer)

Sofia is a software engineer specializing in spatial audio. She has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Yale University and is also a classically trained cellist. She joined the team in 2019 to help create the first AMBEO Mobility Demo Car and has been fascinated with the project ever since. Sofia loves her job because it allows her to tap into both her technical side and her artistic side each and every day. Her responsibilities range from writing code to critical listening to developing demo experiences.

Henrik Oppermann (Head of Sound)

Henrik Oppermann (M.Mus.) is a leading 3D sound specialist, bringing with him over 15 years of experience in recording studio-quality audio on location for film, advertising, music industry clients and 3D sound installations. Henrik has worked on over 150 VR and AR projects, capturing 3D audio in a number of challenging environments, including low-flying military aircraft, formula one race cars, refugee camps, mountain peaks and concert halls around the world. An expert in his field, Henrik has developed hardware and software audio applications and workflows for VR collaboration with leading sound partners, to deliver the best possible Immersive Sound. Henrik joined Sennheiser AMBEO Immersive Audio as the Head of Sound in February 2022.

Listen to Podcast

Show Notes

Sennheiser – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com

Immersive Audio – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo

AMBEO Mobility Official Page – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo-mobility

AMBEO Mobility LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ambeo-mobility

Survey

We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.

Episode 64 Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility (Part 1)

Summary

In this three-part series of the Immersive Audio Podcast, Oliver Kadel will travel to Zurich in Switzerland for an exclusive opportunity to speak to the entire Ambeo Mobility team. The use of spatial audio is becoming ever so ubiquitous, it seems that it’s just a matter of time before we get to enjoy immersive content from the comfort of our cars on a regular basis. Join us on this journey to explore and learn about the cutting-edge applications of spatial audio in automotive.

Veronique Larcher (Director)

Dr Veronique Larcher is the Director of AMBEO Immersive Audio, Sennheiser’s brand for immersive audio products and experiences. She is also a founding advisor at Earkick, a startup focused on monitoring anxiety using audio biomarkers, among others. Veronique has over 20 years of experience in the areas of audio and venture building – before launching AMBEO in 2016, she held multiple roles spearheading innovation at Sennheiser, most notably founding and managing their Strategic Innovation office in San Francisco. Veronique holds a PhD in 3D Audio for Virtual Reality from Ircam (France) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Luca Brambilla (Project Manager)

Luca is the project manager of the Sennheiser AMBEO Mobility initiative, part of the founding team of the project and a real car enthusiast. As a car audiophile, he is motivated by bringing innovative audio technology into the most prestigious cars in the industry and is excited by the opportunities the future of mobility hold. His background is in Industrial Engineering, and with a Master’s degree in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich, he is skilled at combining technical knowledge and management expertise. In the team, he covers the role of project coordination, and planning, and is in charge of customer and supplier relations.

Sofia Brazzola (Brand & Marketing Manager)

Sofia is leading Brand & Marketing efforts aimed at the growth of the corporate venture AMBEO Mobility, launching Sennheiser in the automotive industry. She has been in the team for several years under different capacities leveraging her Design Strategy, User Experience and Marketing skills aimed at de-risking and launching product concepts in new opportunity markets for Sennheiser internationally, including VR/AR and immersive music streaming. In her current role, she coordinates digital and event marketing activities designs brand strategies and is responsible for Sennheiser AMBEO’s brand positioning in the automotive world. She recently graduated with an MBA from Imperial College in London and holds a Master’s degree in Design from the Zurich University of the Arts.

Rui Wang (Customer Developer)

Rui is a digital marketer, cross-cultural communicator, and partnership developer. She holds a master’s degree in European and Asian Business Management from the University of Zurich. With four years of experience working with top technology companies, she has a keen understanding of the needs of B2C & B2B clients in the field of innovation. As a bridge between the West and the East within the Sennheiser AMBEO team, she takes pride in providing market insights and data-driven business strategies. In addition to her primary job functions, she has been certified as a Data Analyst with Python for her commitment to data analysis.

Lorenz Bucher (Software Architect)

Lorenz Bucher is part of Sennheiser’s interdisciplinary AMBEO Mobility team. As a software architect, he’s eagerly striving to shape the future of automotive sound experiences and leading Sennheiser towards software excellence. He has a background in electrical engineering and spent many years of his career developing embedded audio DSP systems and implementing audio algorithms for high-end professional mixing consoles and consumer electronics. Being an avid musician in his spare time, Lorenz has found the sweet spot where he can combine his love for music with his passion for tweaking the technology to create the ‘wow’.

Sofia Checa (Software Engineer)

Sofia is a software engineer specializing in spatial audio. She has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Yale University and is also a classically trained cellist. She joined the team in 2019 to help create the first AMBEO Mobility Demo Car and has been fascinated with the project ever since. Sofia loves her job because it allows her to tap into both her technical side and her artistic side each and every day. Her responsibilities range from writing code to critical listening to developing demo experiences.

Henrik Oppermann (Head of Sound)

Henrik Oppermann (M.Mus.) is a leading 3D sound specialist, bringing with him over 15 years of experience in recording studio-quality audio on location for film, advertising, music industry clients and 3D sound installations. Henrik has worked on over 150 VR and AR projects, capturing 3D audio in a number of challenging environments, including low-flying military aircraft, formula one race cars, refugee camps, mountain peaks and concert halls around the world. An expert in his field, Henrik has developed hardware and software audio applications and workflows for VR collaboration with leading sound partners, to deliver the best possible Immersive Sound. Henrik joined Sennheiser AMBEO Immersive Audio as the Head of Sound in February 2022.

Listen to Podcast

Show Notes

Sennheiser – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com

Immersive Audio – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo

AMBEO Mobility Official Page – https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ambeo-mobility

AMBEO Mobility LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ambeo-mobility

Survey

We want to hear from you! We really value our community and would appreciate it if you would take our very quick survey and help us make the Immersive Audio Podcast even better: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3Y9B2MJ Thank you!

Credits

This episode was produced by Oliver Kadel and Emma Rees and included music by Rhythm Scott.