BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//IWAENC 2026//Program//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:IWAENC 2026
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-1@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T113000Z
DTEND:20260907T120000Z
SUMMARY:Compact Microphone and Loudspeaker Array Design for AI Smart Glasses
DESCRIPTION:AI-powered smart glasses are emerging as a new generation of consumer devices\, requiring compact and efficient microphone and loudspeaker arrays for seamless voice communication and human-AI speech interaction. These arrays must accurately capture the wearer's speech while delivering high-quality personal audio with minimal acoustic leakage\, ensuring both robust performance in noisy environments and user privacy. In this talk\, I will present our recent work on compact superarrays for speech acquisition and high-gain loudspeaker arrays for personal audio in smart glasses. The proposed superarray combines a small number of omnidirectional and directional microphones to achieve highly directional beamforming despite the limited array aperture. I will also introduce compact loudspeaker arrays that generate spatially focused sound fields\, delivering clear audio to the wearer while substantially reducing sound leakage. The talk will highlight the underlying design principles\, signal processing techniques\, and representative experimental results.
URL:day_1.html#workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-2@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T120000Z
DTEND:20260907T123000Z
SUMMARY:Hybrid Model-Based and Learning-Based Approaches for Speech Enhancement in Hearables
DESCRIPTION:In assistive listening devices\, speech quality and speech understanding may be severely degraded by background noise\, competing speakers\, and acoustic feedback. Hence\, robust speech enhancement and feedback cancellation algorithms are required that are online-capable and perform well in dynamic acoustic scenarios. In this talk\, I will present recent advances in model-based and deep learning-based approaches for multi-microphone speech enhancement and feedback cancellation in hearables. First\, I will present hybrid speech enhancement algorithms in which quantities required by a model-based enhancement stage are estimated by a learning-based stage. This includes deep multi-frame MVDR beamforming\, where I will show how structured temporal and spatio-temporal representations\, as well as spatial regularization\, can improve the interpretability of the learned quantities. Second\, I will present deep learning-based own voice reconstruction for hearables equipped with an outer and an in-ear microphone\, jointly addressing noise reduction and bandwidth extension by exploiting phoneme-dependent own voice transfer characteristics. Third\, I will discuss deep feedback cancellation for hearing aids\, focusing on an in-the-loop training strategy that improves robustness at high amplification gains. Together\, these contributions illustrate how combining acoustic modeling with deep learning can lead to interpretable\, robust\, and real-time-capable speech processing algorithms for future assistive listening devices.
URL:https://iwaenc2026.org/attend/workshop/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-3@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T123000Z
DTEND:20260907T130000Z
SUMMARY:Audio Processing for Augmented Reality Glasses
DESCRIPTION:This talk will start by outlining the typical hardware configuration of augmented reality (AR) glasses and discussing key design tradeoffs. It will review the main audio processing blocks\, as well as the audio consumers and generators in core scenarios. Examples will span classic statistical signal processing\, discriminative AI methods\, and generative AI-based approaches. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the role of domain experts in the modern AI era. It will be illustrated with examples from the design of HoloLens and HoloLens 2 and audio processing work from the Audio and Acoustics Research Group at Microsoft Research.
URL:day_1.html#workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-4@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T130000Z
DTEND:20260907T133000Z
SUMMARY:Coffee Break
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_1.html#coffee
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-5@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T133000Z
DTEND:20260907T140000Z
SUMMARY:How do we Change the (Hearing) World?
DESCRIPTION:No matter how we look at the data\, hearing impairment remains a woefully undertreated handicap. We are also learning more and more that untreated hearing loss is a health issue with consequences that extend well beyond hearing\, speech understanding\, and the other outcomes we have traditionally measured. Looking carefully at the data\, there have been improvements over the past years. However\, progress has been slow. This talk will focus on the range of potential limitations to treatment—technical\, psychological\, and beyond—as well as a range of potential ways to improve the treatment uptake. What types of research can we learn from beyond the hearing and audiology fields? What does that mean for products\, and in particular for future signal processing strategies? The challenge ahead is not only to make hearing devices perform better in the laboratory\, but to make them more valuable and relevant in everyday life. This may require new ways of thinking about signal processing\, product design\, and the role of hearing care itself.
URL:day_1.html#workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-6@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T140000Z
DTEND:20260907T143000Z
SUMMARY:From Hearing Challenges to Everyday Adoption: Clinical Validation of Nuance Audio Plus Glasses
DESCRIPTION:Millions of adults experience hearing difficulties yet do not adopt traditional hearing aids\, often due to stigma\, perceived need\, or barriers to access. Nuance Audio Glasses represent a new category of wearable technology that combines auditory support with familiar eyewear\, potentially offering a more approachable pathway to hearing assistance. This presentation will review the evidence-generation journey behind Nuance Audio Plus Glasses\, focusing on both controlled laboratory assessment and real-world user experience. Clinical studies evaluated speech understanding in noise using standardized speech perception measures\, while ecological and patient-reported outcome methodologies captured benefit during everyday listening situations. Participants used the technology in their daily environments\, providing insight into communication performance\, listening effort\, usability\, and overall acceptance. The presentation will discuss key lessons learned from translating audio-processing innovation into a consumer wearable product and explore the role of smart eyewear in expanding access to hearing support for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing difficulties. Results demonstrate improved speech understanding in challenging acoustic environments\, accompanied by positive real-world outcomes and high user acceptance. The findings highlight the importance of evaluating emerging hearing technologies not only through traditional laboratory metrics but also through evidence reflecting everyday use and user behavior.
URL:day_1.html#workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-7@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T143000Z
DTEND:20260907T144500Z
SUMMARY:Odinsight: A Multimodal SmartEyewear for Audio Data Acquisition
DESCRIPTION:Speech and audio sensing on smart eyewear remains largely unexplored\, even though these devices are inherently close to both the mouth and the ear. We present Odinsight\, a multimodal smart eyewear platform designed for large-scale audio data acquisition. The device integrates a multi-microphone array with a vibration microphone\, complemented by an IMU\, Time-of-Flight\, PPG\, and ambient light sensors\, enabling synchronized capture of acoustic\, motion\, physiological\, and environmental signals. This rich multimodal dataset supports the development of algorithms for tasks such as speech enhancement\, voice activity detection\, own-voice recognition\, and context-aware audio processing. We describe the included sensors and data-collection protocol and discuss early insights into how auxiliary modalities could improve the future robustness of audio algorithms under real-world\, in-the-wild conditions.
URL:day_1.html#workshop
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-8@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260907T153000Z
DTEND:20260907T210000Z
SUMMARY:Welcome Activities
DESCRIPTION:At the Museo del Violino in Cremona\, the conference will open with an unforgettable evening that celebrates music\, craftsmanship\, and inspiration. Guests will be welcomed into the heart of a place where centuries of tradition resonate\, beginning with a guided tour through the museum’s remarkable collection. The experience will then move into the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi\, where a special live audition will immerse attendees in the pure\, evocative sound of the violin. The evening will conclude with a refined cocktail\, offering a moment to connect\, reflect\, and set the tone for the days ahead in an atmosphere of elegance and shared passion. Included in the registration fee.
URL:day_1.html#social
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-9@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T061500Z
DTEND:20260908T063000Z
SUMMARY:Opening
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_2.html#open
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-10@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T063000Z
DTEND:20260908T073000Z
SUMMARY:Keynote 1 - Ambisonics Signal Processing: From Spherical Array Theory to Machine Learning Challenges 
DESCRIPTION:Ambisonics is a versatile framework for spatial audio capture\, encoding\, and reproduction\, with growing adoption in industry as the standard format for immersive spatial audio. Ambisonics is based on the spherical harmonics representation of sound fields\, with its signal processing having evolved from classical spherical array theory to modern machine learning. This talk reviews Ambisonics encoding approaches as a means to generate Ambisonics signals from microphone recordings\, first for spherical arrays\, then for wearable arrays and arrays of unconstrained geometry using methods ranging from linear Ambisonics Signal Matching to neural network-based approaches that implicitly leverage information in the audio data. Neural network-based approaches\, once incorporated into spatial audio applications\, require loss functions that reflect auditory spatial perception\, a topic of growing interest that also opens new challenges. These perceptual loss functions are particularly relevant to recent work on Ambisonics upscaling - moving beyond first-order to higher-order representations. Beyond upscaling\, Ambisonics further extends to speech enhancement\, both for improving spatial audio quality and\, more broadly\, for enabling array-agnostic processing through its modular\, geometry-independent structure. Together\, these topics illustrate the growing role of Ambisonics as a unifying representation in spatial audio and point to promising directions for future research.
URL:day_2.html#all
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-11@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T073000Z
DTEND:20260908T090000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 1
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-12@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T090000Z
DTEND:20260908T093000Z
SUMMARY:Coffee Break
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_2.html#coffee
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-13@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T093000Z
DTEND:20260908T110000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 2
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=2
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-14@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T110000Z
DTEND:20260908T130000Z
SUMMARY:Lunch
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_2.html#lunch
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-15@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T110000Z
DTEND:20260908T130000Z
SUMMARY:Student Activities
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://iwaenc2026.org/attend/student-meetup/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-16@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T130000Z
DTEND:20260908T140000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 3
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-17@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T140000Z
DTEND:20260908T143000Z
SUMMARY:Coffee Break
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_2.html#coffee
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-18@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T143000Z
DTEND:20260908T160000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 4
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=4
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-19@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T143000Z
DTEND:20260908T160000Z
SUMMARY:Demo Session
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_2.html#demo
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-20@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T163000Z
DTEND:20260908T180000Z
SUMMARY:Cremona Guided Tour
DESCRIPTION:Starting from the Politecnico campus of Cremona\, housed in the former Manfredini barracks\, this guided walking tour invites participants on a gentle journey into the soul of the city. Step by step\, the atmosphere shifts from the quiet charm of the academic setting to the vibrant pulse of Cremona’s historic center\, revealing a landscape where past and present blend seamlessly. As the streets unfold\, each corner hints at centuries of stories\, craftsmanship\, and culture\, creating a sense of discovery that goes beyond what is seen. The walk becomes an experience of connection—between places\, people\, and traditions—leading participants toward the heart of the city in a relaxed and evocative atmosphere. More than a simple route\, this tour is an invitation to feel Cremona: to absorb its rhythm\, its elegance\, and its timeless spirit\, as the city gradually reveals itself along the way. Included in the registration fee.
URL:https://iwaenc2026.org/attend/social-program/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-21@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260908T180000Z
DTEND:20260908T210000Z
SUMMARY:Dinner @ Juliette
DESCRIPTION:Shuttle bus from Cremona center right after the guided tour. Set in the elegant and intimate atmosphere of Juliette in Cremona\, this exclusive dinner offers a moment of refined conviviality reserved for conference participants. Guests will be welcomed into a dedicated space\, thoughtfully arranged to create a warm and engaging setting\, where conversation and connection can unfold naturally. The evening will be enriched by live musical entertainment\, adding a subtle yet captivating soundtrack that enhances the ambiance and reflects the city’s deep-rooted musical heritage. Each moment is designed to evoke a sense of harmony—between taste\, sound\, and shared experience. To ensure a seamless experience\, a dedicated shuttle service will be available for both the outward and return journeys from Cremona’s city center\, allowing participants to fully relax and enjoy the evening from beginning to end. Tickets available during the registration.
URL:https://iwaenc2026.org/attend/social-program/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-22@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T063000Z
DTEND:20260909T073000Z
SUMMARY:Keynote 2 - Organizing the Acoustic World: Computational Principles of Auditory Attention
DESCRIPTION:The ability to navigate complex acoustic environments depends on more than recognizing sounds. It requires identifying what is behaviorally relevant\, organizing sensory inputs into meaningful objects\, and adapting to changing goals and contexts. This talk will examine the computational principles that support these abilities\, drawing on studies of auditory attention\, predictive processing\, and auditory scene analysis. I will present behavioral and neural evidence illustrating how top-down goals\, statistical learning\, and bottom-up organization interact to shape auditory representations and guide selective listening in natural acoustic scenes. I will conclude by discussing how these same principles are beginning to influence modern audio systems\, offering opportunities for closer integration between auditory neuroscience and machine listening.
URL:day_3.html#all
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-23@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T073000Z
DTEND:20260909T090000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 5
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=5
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-24@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T090000Z
DTEND:20260909T093000Z
SUMMARY:Coffee Break
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_3.html#coffee
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-25@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T093000Z
DTEND:20260909T103000Z
SUMMARY:Student Best Paper Competition - Part 1
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_3.html#student_best
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-26@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T103000Z
DTEND:20260909T113000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 6
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=6
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-27@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T113000Z
DTEND:20260909T121500Z
SUMMARY:Lunch
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_3.html#lunch
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-28@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260909T121500Z
DTEND:20260909T210000Z
SUMMARY:Social Program (Lake Iseo + Museo Auto Storiche + Dinner)
DESCRIPTION:Discover the charm of Lake Iseo through an experience designed to inspire and enchant. Departing from Cremona after lunch\, participants will be comfortably accompanied on a journey that unfolds across one of Northern Italy’s most evocative landscapes\, where water\, light\, and tradition blend into a uniquely serene atmosphere. The excursion invites guests to embrace the gentle rhythm of the lake\, surrounded by timeless scenery and a sense of quiet wonder that defines this hidden gem. Lake Iseo is home to Montisola\, the largest inhabited lake island in Europe\, as well as the two small islands of Loreto and San Paolo. The excursion includes a tour around all three islands (Montisola\, Loreto\, and San Paolo\, thus covering the entire Lake Iseo)\, with a stop and free time to explore Peschiera Maraglio\, a picturesque village located on the southeastern tip of Montisola. Founded in the early Middle Ages as a fishing outpost of Iseo\, it is one of the island’s most important centers and undoubtedly its most iconic image. It lies at the foot of extensive coppice woods and cypress groves that stretch across the island’s broad eastern slope. As the day transitions into evening\, the experience continues in Brescia at the Museo Auto Storiche —once the renowned Mille Miglia Museum—an iconic space that celebrates movement\, elegance\, and the spirit of innovation. Within its evocative setting\, where history and passion for engineering come alive\, guests will enjoy a memorable dinner immersed in a truly distinctive ambiance. Round-trip transportation from Cremona is included\, ensuring a seamless and relaxing experience that allows participants to fully enjoy every moment of this captivating journey. Included in the registration fee.
URL:https://iwaenc2026.org/attend/social-program/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-29@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T060000Z
DTEND:20260910T070000Z
SUMMARY:Keynote 3 - Language Queried Audio Source Separation
DESCRIPTION:Large audio-language models (LALMs) are emerging as a powerful approach for addressing a broad range of audio signal processing problems\, including generation\, captioning\, editing\, and source separation. By integrating large language models (LLMs) with audio modeling techniques\, they enable more flexible and intelligent audio systems. This talk focuses on language-queried audio source separation (LASS)\, a recently introduced framework that extracts desired sounds from an audio mixture using natural language queries. LASS offers an intuitive and scalable interface for applications such as automated editing\, remixing\, and audio rendering. We start by outlining the problem and its motivation\, making a connection with conventional paradigms for speech and universal source separation. We then present two LASS methods: AudioSep and FlowSep. AudioSep is a text-driven model that uses query and separation networks to estimate time–frequency masks and extract target sounds. FlowSep is a generative approach based on rectified flow matching (RFM)\, modeling transitions from noise to target features in a variational autoencoder (VAE) latent space and reconstructing audio via a decoder and vocoder. We also present datasets\, evaluation metrics\, experimental results\, and sound demos. Finally\, we link source separation to audio editing and generation\, highlighting recent advances (e.g. the RFM-Editing\, AudioLDM\, and AudioLDM2 models)\, and conclude the talk with future research directions in this evolving field.
URL:day_4.html#all
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-30@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T070000Z
DTEND:20260910T083000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 7
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=7
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-31@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T083000Z
DTEND:20260910T090000Z
SUMMARY:Coffee Break
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_4.html#coffee
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-32@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T090000Z
DTEND:20260910T103000Z
SUMMARY:Poster Session 8
DESCRIPTION:
URL:papers.html?session=8
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-33@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T103000Z
DTEND:20260910T113000Z
SUMMARY:Student Best Paper Competition - Part 2
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_4.html#student_best
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-34@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T113000Z
DTEND:20260910T123000Z
SUMMARY:Lunch
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_4.html#lunch
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:iwaenc2026-35@iwaenc2026.org
DTSTAMP:20260808T164214Z
DTSTART:20260910T130000Z
DTEND:20260910T133000Z
SUMMARY:Closing Ceremony
DESCRIPTION:
URL:day_4.html#closing
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR