Dennis Paoletti – FASA FAIA FSMPS Paoletti Consulting

In January 2023 Dennis Paoletti led an initial program to kick off the new Regional Chapter of the ASA San Francisco Bay Area. The program was appropriately titled “The History of Acoustical Consulting in the San Francisco Bay Area…since the ‘60’s”.

It was an interesting program of personal and career stories by some acoustical consulting “Elders” from the San Francisco Bay Area (including Joel Lewitz, David Schwind and Derek Watry) remembering some of the “Pioneers” of the industry who have passed. Dennis has accepted our invitation to present a similar program to the ASA LA Chapter with additional references and reflections regarding his experiences in the Los Angeles area during his 55-year consulting career.

Growing up on the east coast, Dennis attended Brooklyn Technical HS where he studied architecture. He then attended Penn State University where he studied architecture and got introduced to acoustics. Upon graduating in 1967, he accepted a job with Bolt Beranek and Newman in their newly opened San Francisco office, managed by Red Wetherill and Warren Blazier. In 1976 he stepped out on his own with Joel Lewitz and in 2000 merged his own firm with Shen Milsom and Wilke. Since 2012 he has been providing independent acoustical consulting services from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory |  https://sail.usc.edu/people/shri.html

Speech research is remarkable in so many ways––in its essential human-centeredness, the rich interconnections between the science and technology, and its wide-ranging impact that is both fundamental and applied.  Crucial advances in speech science research catalyze and leverage technological advances across the machine intelligence ecosystem, from sensing and imaging to signal processing and machine learning. Likewise, creation of speech-centric societal applications benefits from an understanding of how humans produce, process, and use speech in communication. In these complementary endeavors, two intertwined lines of inquiry endure: illuminating the rich information tapestry and inherent variability in speech and creating trustworthy speech technologies.

This talk will highlight some advances and possibilities in this multifaceted speech research realm. The first is capturing and modeling the human vocal instrument during speaking and how related technological and clinical applications leverage this technology.  The second focuses on speech-based machine intelligence tools to support research and clinical translation related to human health and wellbeing. Finally, the talk will highlight the critical goal of designing trustworthy speech and spoken language machine intelligence tools that are inclusive, equitable, robust, safe, and secure.

Biography of the Speaker:

Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan is University Professor and Niki & C. L. Max Nikias Chair in Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he is VP for Presidential Initiatives, Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Neuroscience, Pediatrics, and Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Director of the Ming Hsieh Institute and Research Director of the Information Sciences Institute. Prior to USC, he was with AT&T Bell Labs and AT&T Research. He is a Visiting Faculty Researcher with Google Research.  His interdisciplinary research focuses on human-centered sensing/imaging, signal processing, and machine intelligence centered on human communication, interaction, emotions, and behavior.  He is a Fellow the Acoustical Society of America, IEEE, ACM, International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and a recipient of many awards for research and education including the 2023 ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement and the 2023 Richard Deswarte Prize in Digital History. He has published widely and his inventions have led to technology commercialization including through startups he co-founded: Behavioral Signals Technologies focused on AI based conversational assistance and Lyssn focused on mental health care and quality assurance

This presentation will firstly present a review and comparison of current ASTM and ISO standards and methods used to assess speech privacy in office and healthcare environments. Standards reviewed will include ISO 3382-3, ISO 22955, ASTM E1130, E2368, and E1574. Some unstandardised metrics in common usage will also be included in the review.

A review of the privacy requirements set out in commonly used criteria guides (ANSI S12.70, LEED, and WELL) will also be presented and the requirements compared.

The presentation will then summarise proposed changes to the current versions of many of these standards, as well as the state of the discussions within working groups looking to develop new standards (including Sound Masking performance classification, Healthcare Speech Privacy, In-situ testing of furniture assemblies and privacy modules).

Dr. Roderick Mackenzie is currently the Deputy Director of Acoustical Consulting at Soft dB, one of Canada’s largest specialised acoustical consultancies with offices across Canada and Europe. At Soft dB, Dr. Mackenzie supervises most of Soft dB’s architectural projects, focusing on interior and exterior sound insulation; speech privacy; reverberation control; and building services / mechanical systems noise and vibration control.

Dr. Mackenzie is currently the Chair of the ASTM E33.02 Speech Privacy Standards Sub-Committee, sits on the ASTM E33 Executive Committe for Building and Environmental Acoustics, a registered Chartered Engineer in the UK, and a member of INCE, IOA, CAA-ACA, and ASA.

Dr. Mackenzie represents Canada on several ISO TC 43 SC 1 and SC2 working groups, is a member of the Standards Council of Canada TC 43 SC 1 Noise and TC 43 SC 2 Building Acoustics Mirror Committees reviewing and working on all ISO acoustical standards. He is also currently a member of working groups reviewing ANSI S12.70 and Chapter 49 of ASHRAE HVAC Applications Handbook.

Multiple short form presentations on a variety of topics and a demo from Socal Cinetech!

The compression driver has a long and storied history. This talk will trace its origins and usage in cinemas. Whereas today there are many types, the concentration here is on cinema usage of these technologies. The remarkable thing is that today’s drivers would be completely recognizable by its inventors in 1926 even though there have been many developments along the way in theory and practice.

BIOGRAPHY

Tomlinson Holman is retired as Distinguished Engineer and Director, Audio, Apple Inc.

Before that he was Professor of Film Sound at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and Viterbi School of Engineering, and Corporate Technical Director of Lucasfilm where he started THX.

Anthony Grimani is a highly respected expert in audio engineering and acoustics, and has worked on over 1,200 media environment projects during his 40-year career. Custom Retailer magazine named him one of the “50 Most Vital Influencers”, he was inducted as Fellow of the CEDIA trade association, and CEPro Magazine named him one of the “Top 20 Most Influential People of the Past 20 Years.”

His extensive industry experience includes executive positions at Dolby and Lucasfilm THX. At Dolby, Anthony was intricately involved in the development of surround sound for consumer applications. During his nine-year tenure at THX, he managed the THX consumer licensing program and the technology development program, setting the direction for consumer and professional Audio/Video businesses. At PMI Engineering, he has worked on private screening rooms and studio for several film and music industry leaders, earning the coveted CEDIA Awards several years in a row.

Anthony developed the Home THX program, the THX PM3 program, and invented the revolutionary Surround EX 6.1 channel audio format pioneered in Star Wars, the Phantom Menace. He is a columnist in the print publications Residential Systems and Connected Home, and has taught at every CEDIA Expo since 1990, earning him a Top Instructor award.

Anthony has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Davis, and holds six patents in the area of audio and acoustics. He is a member of AES and SMPTE.

He now heads up three companies:

Grimani Systems manufactures new-school high performance speakers

PMI Engineering designs private screening rooms and studios

Dimension4 distributes specialty acoustical treatments