Keynote Speaker
Keynote 2 - Organizing the Acoustic World: Computational Principles of Auditory Attention
Prof. Mounya Elhilali / Johns Hopkins University
2026-09-09 | 08:30-09:30 (Europe/Rome)
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.
Bio
Mounya Elhilali received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2004. She is the Charles Renn faculty scholar and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointment in the department of Psychology and Brain Sciences. She directs the Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception and is affiliated with the center for speech and language processing, the center for hearing and balance and the Kavli neuroscience institute. Her research examines sound processing by humans and machines in noisy soundscapes, and investigates reverse engineering intelligent processing of sounds by brain networks with applications to speech and audio technologies and medical diagnostic systems. Dr. Elhilali is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award. She was recognized as outstanding woman innovator by the Johns Hopkins tech ventures in 2020.