#23 Behind the Scenes at ISCA with Emmanuelle Foxonet

Dive into the world of speech security, anti-spoofing, and deepfake detection in this episode of Speech Pitch featuring Tomi Kinnunen, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Eastern Finland and a leading researcher in voice biometrics and audio spoofing countermeasures.In this episode, Tomi breaks down the origins of the landmark ASVspoof initiative, shares insights from the SPEECHFAKES project, and discusses where speech synthesis research is headed next. We also touch on key academic advice for PhD students, mentoring strategies, and the big question: will better deep neural networks solve everything in speech processing?Hosts: Priyansi Pal, Nikhil RaghavScript: Priyansi Pal, Nikhil RaghavPost production editors: Vishwas Shetty, Belu Ticona, Snigdha Banik, Dani Kazzy, Spyretta Leivaditi, Pascal Hecker00:00 Intro00:11 Introducing Tomi Kinnunen01:17 Origins of ASVspoof06:03 Perspective on the security arms race09:35 Speech synthesis and deepfake detection research collaboration14:24 Is anti-spoofing going to be more important than synthesis? Which modality is easier to detect?17:17 The SPEECHFAKES project24:31 Potential future research directions25:42 Personal fun facts28:27 Advice on mentoring and PhD research31:13 Other interesting research areas32:03 Question from the previous guests: Will better deep neural networks solve everything speech related? How can we convince students to write papers on why they did their research?36:33 Question for the next guest: How to find the topics that were not yet addressed37:21 Farewell and outro

In this episode we share information about Sydney, Interspeech 2026 host city. You will learn you can travel from the airport to the conference venue itself, what to pack for your trip, the food culture, fun activities and some survival Aussie expressions.Hosts: Pascal Hecker, Mohammed MosuilyGuest: Monica Gonzalez MachorroScript: Spyretta LeivaditiPost production editors: Vishwas Shetty, Belu Ticona, Wei Xue, Snigdha Banik, Tiānyì ZhaoHere are the chapter mark time stamps:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:28 - Introduction Monica00:02:19 - The long journey and jet lag00:02:56 - Australia: a continent, and the Gadigal people00:03:21 - Fun facts: green and gold, and the capital00:04:19 - Architecture and landmarks00:05:15 - View Points00:06:05 - Emerald City: Sydney and New South Wales00:07:00 -  Language and accents00:08:37 - Currence and payment00:09:29 - Safety00:10:27 - Wildlife00:16:30 - What to wear and sun protection00:17:49 - What to pack00:18:48 - Survival Information00:23:35 - Food00:30:10 - Souvenirs00:30:45 - Fun activities and beaches00:31:21 - Public transport: the Sunday cap and the Blue Mountains00:32:31 - Survival Aussie slang00:34:16 - See you all in Sydney!00:34:44 - Outro

Ever wondered what it really takes to run a global association like ISCA, year after year? In this episode we sat down with Emmanuelle Foxonet – ISCA’s Office Manager and Administrative Coordinator – to uncover the people, processes, and stories behind the scenes.‼️ What makes this episode extra special?🗣️ Emmanuelle spoke in her native French, and we used ASR, translator, and TTS to create an English version of her voice – keeping her natural tone and personality while making the conversation accessible to our global community. Hosts: Kay Berkling, Paige Tutossi Post-Production: Pascal Hecker, Mohammed Mosuily, Wei Sue, Tianyi Zhao, Nikhil Raghav, Belu Ticona, Spyretta Leivaditi00:00:45 - Introduction of Emmanuel Foxonet00:02:02 - Challenges and Rewards of Office Management00:03:05 - Evolution of the Office Manager Role00:05:16 - Impactful Projects and Tasks00:07:27 - Administrative Challenges in International Associations00:08:52 - Future Tools for Efficiency00:10:22 - Managing a Growing Community00:11:33 - Behind-the-Scenes of Interspeech00:15:39 - Funny Behind-the-Scenes Stories00:19:09 - Logistical Hurdles in Diverse Locations00:21:19 - Upcoming Conferences and Personal Experiences00:22:57 - Surprising Changes in Research Culture00:24:03 - Conclusion and Future Insights00:24:58 - Outro

Join us as we sit down with Hynek and Morgan to talk all things speech research. We’re getting into the real stuff: why they started, whether they actually had a "grand plan" or were just following their curiosity, and how they decide which projects are actually worth the effort.We also get into the technical weeds (in a good way) on things like energy efficiency and the battle between neural nets and knowledge-driven models. Plus, there’s plenty of solid advice for students on finding mentors, dealing with those brutal paper rejections, and knowing when to move fast versus taking it slow.0:00:00 - intro00:00:11 - introduction of the guests00:01:16 - Hynek00:02:02 - Morgan00:04:08 - research focus: why did they get into speech research?00:08:46 - did they have a plan on how to influence the field?00:11:29 - were they able to fake that they had a grand goal when they were rather driven by curiosity?00:19:13 - how do they chose the projects to pursue?00:24:09 - what things did they pick up from working and collaborating with other people?00:27:32 - what interdisciplinary knowledge is so important right now to drive the next big innovation forward?00:34:36 - how to improve current neural nets; end-to-end vs. knowledge-driven approaches; energy efficiency00:48:53 - mentoring: how can students approach seniors?00:56:02 - moving fast and breaking things vs. moving slowly00:58:04 - mentoring students01:08:24 - how to deal with reviewers and rejections?01:15:40 - what are they doing nowadays?01:25:08 - question from the previous guests: pivotal moment in your career01:31:15 - question for the next guest: will better deep neural networks solve everything speech related? How can we convince students to write papers on why they did their research?01:32:35 - farewell01:33:10 - outro

Jhansi shares her unique dual perspective—firstly as a researcher pushing boundaries in the field, and secondly as a member of the PhD panel, where she helped guide the next generation of scientists. Host: Spyretta LeivaditiPost-Production: Mohammed Mosuily, Pascal Hecker, Spyretta Leivaditi

Yuanyuan joins us to talk about her research in inclusive speech technology and the power of representation in AI. Whether she’s collecting personalized audio-video datasets or organizing the next big Interspeech, Yan is a champion for community.Tune in for a candid conversation about:Diverse Data: Accented, child, and disaster-related speech.Leadership: Transitioning from workshop participant to organizer.The PhD Mindset: Overcoming stress and prioritizing mental health.Host: Spyretta LeivaditiPost-Production: Mohammed Mosuily, Pascal Hecker

Fresh from the Young Female Researchers in Speech Workshop (YFRSW) 2025, Chin-Jou Li joins us to share her experience as a rising voice in the field. Chin-Jou discusses her poster presentation "Towards Inclusive ASR: Investigating Voice Conversion for Dysarthric Speech Recognition in Low-Resource Languages", her reflections on the mentoring and community at the workshop.Host: Spyretta LeiavditiPost-Production: Mohammed Mosuily, Pascal Hecker

Julian Zaidi and Marc-André Carbonneau are discussing the practical differences between academic speech research and industrial application within the video game sector. The guests compare the Speech Synthesis Workshop to the broader Interspeech conference, noting that smaller venues allow for more technical discussions on voice cloning and evaluation metrics. They highlight critical challenges for the industry, such as maintaining speaker identity across varied emotions and the necessity for compact models that run efficiently on local hardware. The conversation further explores the cultural shift required when moving to a commercial environment, where consistent reliability and effective communication with non-experts are prioritised over theoretical novelty. Ultimately, the speakers emphasise that while academia thrives on exploration, industry demands functional, high-performance tools that meet the strict expectations of players.Host: Paige TuttösiPost-Production: Zhengjun Yue, Pascal Hecker

We travel to the Speech Synthesis Workshop (SSW) 2025 to sit down with Xin Wang, Project Associate Professor at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan. Xin shares insights into his groundbreaking work. We also explore the highlights of this year's workshop and the evolving landscape of synthetic media.Host: Paige TuttösiPost-Production: Tianyi Zhao, Pascal Hecker

Kick off the Speech Synthesis Workshop 2026 with an opening message from Matt Coler. In this introductory segment, Matt sets the stage for a year of breakthrough research, collaborative innovation, and the evolving landscape of synthetic speech. Whether you’re a veteran researcher or a curious newcomer, the journey starts here.Host: Matt ColerPost-Production: Zhengjun Yue, Pascal Hecker