Research Assistant for Conversational Speech Quality Assessment and Prediction - salary grade E 13 TV-L Berliner Hochschulen

part-time employment may be possible

Hire Date

The start date for the position is planned for November 1st, 2022, qualification goal doctorate. It is limited to a duration until September 30th, 2025 and a subsequent ongoing employment is supported if sufficient third-party-funding is available.

About Us

The majority of systems and services that are provided by computer science, electrical engineering and information technology finally are directed to their human users. To successfully build such systems and services, it is essential to investigate and understand users and their behavior when interacting with technology.From this, design principles for human-machine interfaces can be derived and requirements for the underlying technologies can be defined.

The Quality and Usability Lab is part of TU Berlin’s Faculty IV and deals with the design and evaluation of human-machine interaction, in which aspects of human perception and communication, technical systems and the design of interaction are the subject of our research. We focus on self-determined work in an interdisciplinary and international team; for this we offer open and flexible working conditions that promote scientific and personal exchange and are a prerequisite for excellent results.

Tasks

The position is open to do research in the fieldof speech signals analysis, and the assessment of speech quality in different (mobile and fixed) networks. Therefore, speech signalsare to be analyzed in listening-only as well as conversational situations in order to get indications or the perceived quality. Based on these analysis, signal-based and parametric models for the estimation of speech quality can be extended and integrated. One focus of the present research may be the evaluation of new speech codecs in different network scenarios. The models are to be validated based on subjective listening and conversation tests. For this purpose, methods of crowdsourcing can be applied, i. e. real users should carry out the data collection and/or evaluation via an online platform. Scientifically interesting is the comparison of such crowdsourced data to those that can be obtained under laboratory conditions.

The outcomes of the research should be used to support the preparation of a new project application, and may also become a foundation for a later PhD thesis. A subsequent position as a research assistant from the project funds would be possible if the funds were approved.

The concrete tasks include, among other things:

Maintaining and further developing a platform to conduct web-based voice calls

• Conducting subjective conversation tests in the laboratory and via crowdsourcing

• Analysis of speech signals

• Creating and evaluating models for predicting quality aspects using different algorithms (including traditional signal processing methods and state-of-the-art DNNs)

• Project communication and reporting

• Publication and presentation of project and research results in scientific journals, at conferences, and in workshops

Requirements

• Master or diploma in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, media informatics, media technology, information systems management (or an equivalent technical background)

• Profound knowledge in digital signal processing, beneficial: speech signal processing or audio signal processing, respectively

• Good programming skills (e.g. MATLAB or Python) and safe handling of web development tools (e.g. HTML5/CSS3, JS, ideally also backend development skills)

• Interest in running user studies with test participants to determinate speech quality

• Language skills: English and German fluent in writing and speaking

• Knowledge about empirical studies and statistical data analysis is appreciated

• Joy of working in an interdisciplinary and international environment

Compensation

“Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (TV-L)” (E13, 100%).

Application

Please send the following documents, bundled in a single PDF file, to
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Möller bewerbung@qu.tu-berlin.de:

Letter of application, curriculum vitae, copies of certificates, job references.

To ensure equal opportunities between women and men, applications by women with the required qualifications are explicitly desired. Qualified individuals with disabilities will be favored. The TU Berlin values the diversity of its members and is committed to the goals of equal opportunities.

Please send electronic copies only. Original documents will not be returned.