Prof. Woon-Seng Gan of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Digital active noise control (ANC) systems have gained significant popularity (in ANC headphones and road noise cancellation in automobiles) in recent years, thanks to the advancements in digital electronics such as embedded processors and ADC/DAC converters. This progress has also led to the development of more complex, multi-channels, distributed and efficient control algorithms for ANC systems. These algorithms allow for improved performance and better control of noise in a wide range of applications. The ease of implementation and lower costs associated with these systems have made them a popular choice for solving noise problems in various fields.

In this presentation, I will discuss the practical aspects of designing an ANC system for headphones and windows. I will showcase some of the proof-of-concept systems developed at the Digital Signal Processing Lab at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and demonstrate how machine learning and digital signal processing techniques can be utilized to detect noise patterns and control noise effectively.

I will also provide an overview of the current advancements in ANC algorithms, including multi-channel ANC, virtual sensing and control, selective noise control, psychoacoustic ANC, and other new research directions in ANC systems. By providing insights into the latest developments in the field, I will give attendees a deeper understanding of the practical applications of ANC systems and the potential they hold for solving noise problems in various industries.

Biography:

Woon-Seng Gan is Professor of Audio Processing and Director of the Smart Nation Lab in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He received his BEng (1st Class Hons) and Ph.D. degrees, both in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, UK in 1989 and 1993, respectively, and joined the faculty of Nanyang Technological University as a lecturer in 1993. He also served as the Head of the Information Engineering Division (2011-2014), and Director of the Centre for Infocomm Technology (2016-2019) at NTU.

Prof. Gan served as Technical Program Chair, IEEE International Conference on Acoustic, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2022); Member, IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Directions Board (2021-2023); Member, Applied Signal Processing Systems Technical Committee (2021-2022); President-elect, Asia Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA) (2023-2024); and General Chair, Asia Pacific of Signal and Information Processing Association Annual Summit and Conference (APSIPA ASC) (2017).

Prof. Gan is a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is currently serving as Senior Area Editor, IEEE Signal Processing Letters (2019-); Associate Technical Editor, Journal of Audio Engineering Society (JAES; 2013-); Senior Editorial Member, APSIPA Transactions on Signal and Information Processing (ATSIP; 2011-); and Associate Editor, EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing (EJASMP; 2007-). He served as Associate Editor, IEEE Signal Processing Letters (SPL; 2015-19); Associate Editor, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing (TASLP; 2012-15); and was presented with an Outstanding TASLP Editorial Board Service Award in 2016. He was also a recipient of the 2017 APSIPA Sadoaki Furui Prize Paper Award.

Prof. Gan’s research has been concerned with the connections between the physical world, signal processing and machine learning, and sound control, which resulted in the practical demonstration and licensing of spatial audio algorithms, psychoacoustic signal processing applied to the soundscape evaluation, audio intelligence monitoring at the edge, and active noise control for headphones and open apertures.