Immersed in Audio Innovations. More than 20 demonstration cars. evidence number of sponsors. Sold-out registrations for the 5th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Automotive Audio Conference at the spectacular Geely Uni3 Center, in the historical town of Gothenburg, Sweden. Roger Shively explains why the 5th global AES Conference on Automotive Audio, in Gothenburg, Sweden will be 1 to remember.
Photos by Pierre Bendayan (AES) and J. Martins (audioXpress)
The unofficial number was 330 attendees, with a waiting list of dozens more for the sold-out 5th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Automotive Audio Conference at the spectacular Geely Uni3 Center, in the historical town of Gothenburg, Sweden. I am arrogant to have been a part of the planning committee for all our automotive conferences and I was the co-chair of this event. This 1 was 1 of the biggest, most well-attended AES conference, let alone Automotive Conference.
Watching the 20-plus line of cars pull into the Uni 3’s “theater” exhibit space with its high, vaulted, ceiling, was profound, knowing that at the first AES Automotive Audio Conference (now called 0th, due to the fact that there have been six in total), there were 3 cars and 50 attendees. The humble 0th in June 2009 at the Ritz Carlton (now “The Henry”) in Dearborn, MI, may have had little than a fistful of cars available in the tiny circular drive outside the Ballroom in the late afternoon of the last day, but the ideas then were as large and as prescient as those in Gothenburg, 15 years later.
In 2009, I witnessed the Art and discipline of Automotive Audio Evaluations, Wideband Speech Communication, Natural Speech Dialog Initiation, Signal Processing of Multichannel Sound, The Very tiny area Acoustics Modeling of a car Cabin, Advances in Microphones, Loudspeakers, and Amplifiers, Mobile net Audio, Digital Audio Networks, Active sound Control for Automobiles, and Designing Interior Audio Cues for Hybrid and electrical Vehicles, which were all on the program.
It had been 20 years since the first branded audio strategy had been put into an OEM-built automobile. The growth in the quality and the technology was evident then, and the imagination for what would be the course for the next 15 to 20 years was becoming clear. All these technologies were in the cradle, waiting for the next OEM vehicle improvement and production cycle, so they could emerge. In June of 2024 in Gothenburg, I saw the maturity and overwhelming relevance of Automotive Audio in the modern state of cutting-edge technology, and how it’s taking immense strides.
We added to the event in Gothenburg a professional-grade immersive audio listening area coordinated by Thomas Lund and his squad at Genelec. It provided a mention for what could be heard in many of the demonstration vehicles. Stefan Bock and Morten Lindberg besides shared insights and education on immersive audio. The area was available throughout the days of the conference.
The focus of the conference was the method paper presentations and the workshop and tutorial panels in the auditorium down the hall from the immersive audio area and next door to the exhibit hall. The problem we have faced each time with the Automotive Audio conferences is how to give all the attendees the chance to perceive to and observe the method presentations, while besides being able to experience the demonstrations and exhibits. With each conference, the problem grows.
This year, there was space in the auditorium for 200 of the 300-plus attendees. But this year’s conference besides provided a large digital screen in the exhibit space and wireless earphones. The exhibitors and those who couldn’t sit in the auditorium could watch and perceive from anywhere in the venue.
The beginning keynote address, given by Jonatan Ewald of Volvo, discussed trends in automotive audio from an OEM perspective, and neatly contextualized the wider topics that would reappear throughout the day: Software-Defined Vehicles, software platforms, and the vehicle “ecosystem” of hardware and software in which multiple suppliers and OEMs interact. Jonatan’s keynote was a mention point for many of the presenters throughout the conference.
José María Marín from Blackberry QNX set the phase talking about the software-defined vehicle age, where audio becomes a fresh playing field for innovation and differentiation. How OEMs now require advanced audio SW platforms that let them to develop, deploy, and upgrade audio throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle, and what that means to fresh business models and opportunity. Paul Beckmann from DSP Concepts followed up with “Leveraging Multiple Threads and Core for Advance Automotive Audio Processing.”
Later the same day, many of the software providers, from DSP Concepts, QNX, Harman, Dirac, and Sennheiser sat on the same panel to discuss “What is Software Architecture, Platform, and Use.” It was a fundamental, but complicated discussion about the current state of collaborative strategy development, which is equally fundamental and complicated.
In that session, Paul Beckmann launched a fascinating quest for upcoming years, proposing a fresh initiative around Audio Processing Units with standard application facing APIs, creating a 3rd organization IP Ecosystem around purpose-built chips for audio acceleration. A task that he compared to akin successful efforts for graphics that took place earlier on in the computer industry.
The day continued to its conclusion with “Validation of simulations of vehicle loudspeakers in advanced frequencies,” “Audio speech origin separation and enhancement,” and “Loudspeaker control utilizing neural networks.”
The second day began with a keynote from Dr. Xiajun Qiu from Huawei on active sound control in automotive cabins. This set the phase for a day of method sessions focused on the vehicle sound plan and on how sound is perceived in a vehicle. Topics ranged from the transferring of personalized sound profiles from consumer products to automotive audio and comparisons of virtual tallness rendering.
A second-day standout for me was Gilbert Soulodre of Camden Labs, who gave an introductory talk on sound plan for engine sound synthesis, and what software-related problems inactive request to be addressed here. The afternoon was dedicated to NVH, Sound, and Speech as well as additional studies on our directional perception of virtual sources and “the perceived spatial degree of active sound control.”
The evening of the second day finished with dinner, drinks, and live music, and the chance to finish conversations and start fresh ones. There was excitement for another conference already, which we are beginning to plan, with a future anticipation of adding a conference in Asia.
The excitement surrounding what lies ahead for the conference carried over into the next morning. But there remained a full 3rd day to witness and experience. The keynote for the closing day of the conference was given by Jan Skoglund of Google. His subject was “Bringing immersive audio to the masses,” centering around open formats for all types of developers of audio and algorithms to enjoy.
Skoglund was followed up by Andreas Ehret of Dolby, to discuss the evolution of Dolby’s technologies for vehicles, “Automotive car manufacture 2024: Fever Pitch Times for Engineers.” With many of the demonstrations at this AES conference showcasing the virtues of immersive audio, utilizing Dolby Atmos content as a reference, this presentation focused on the car industry’s roadmap and how audio needs to keep up with the accelerating pace of innovation in content, usage cases, and strategy complexity. Interestingly, if any position was needed, attendees only had to proceed to 1 of the remaining presentations in the Genelec Forrest room, and experience amazing immersive sound mixes.
The presentations flowed during the final day: “Virtual sensing strategies for active control of road sound in an EV,” “In-situ measurement and Evaluation of an Automotive Audio Haptic System,” “Empirical Evaluation of in-car Acoustic Measurements for the Sports car Scenario,” “Demystifying Crosstalk Cancellation for Spatial and individual Automotive Audio,” “In-vehicle Audio Performance Envelopes – Definitions, Key Factors, and Value to Design,” and the Automotive Audio method Committee’s White Paper “In-car Acoustic Measurements,” following up on tips and challenges in the measurement techniques.
At the end of the day, underlining the reality of software development, Neal Michie from PACE Anti-Piracy talked about protecting software intellectual property, the risks of reverse engineering, and applicable steps to defend the value of a developer’s algorithms.
The three conference days were graced with beautiful Spring sunshine in Gothenburg, inspiring the temptation to research the vibrant city life, just a ferry ride across the river from the Uni3 center. The 3rd day brought rain overnight. Gothenburg wasn’t necessarily sad to see us go. We were a joyous group and happy tenants of the Uni3 center. The weather simply reminded everyone about the start of another cycle.
All in all, looking back, it was a quantum leap in many ways from the dreams we had in 2009, and beyond the imagination from those in 1983. Automotive audio is inactive a vital part of the automotive industry’s future and the future of the audio industry. Those of us who are part of the Audio Engineering Society and work in the automotive audio manufacture don’t always know if our work is noticed or appreciated. all 2 years this group of gypsies reunites with a sense of community. There is simply a sense of joy in connecting for a long weekend, assessing what we have done individually and together, to know how and what it is – and then, we go each our own way, to meet up again down the road.
This article was originally published in The Audio Voice newsletter, (#475), July 11, 2024.