Postdoc in Speech Perception, Sociolinguistics and Speech Technology

Postdoc In Speech Perception, Sociolinguistics And Speech Technology

This postdoctoral position is part of the research project Listen Up, which develops an interactive training program to increase awareness of gender bias in speech perception, using controllable neural text-to-speech (TTS) and voice conversion.

The project combines experimental speech perception research, sociolinguistics, gender studies and speech technology. We study how listeners interpret voices and how assumptions about gender, authority, confidence and professionalism emerge through listening. The goal is to develop an engaging interactive training program that helps users reflect on and challenge their own listening biases.

An important part of the project is designing engaging and thought-provoking listening experiments that go beyond measuring bias and lead to reflection and awareness for participants.

We are looking for someone who is intellectually curious, creative, collaborative and genuinely interested in questions of gender, communication and social perception. The ideal candidate enjoys designing perceptual experiments, working closely with participants and thinking across disciplinary boundaries.

Candidates may come from a range of relevant backgrounds, including speech technology, sociolinguistics, phonetics, psycholinguistics, HCI, interaction design, cognitive science, gender studies, media technology or related fields.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designing and conducting speech perception experiments investigating how listeners interpret and evaluate voices
• Developing engaging listening tasks, interactive experimental paradigms and speech stimuli using neural text-to-speech and voice conversion tools
• Analysing qualitative and quantitative data on voice perception, gender bias and sociolinguistic variation, including how participants reflect on and describe their own listening assumptions
• Collaborating with researchers and students in an interdisciplinary research environment
• Publishing results in leading venues across speech science, sociolinguistics, HCI and speech technology

The position is based at the Department of Speech, Music and Hearing (TMH) at KTH.

Qualifications:

• A doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time the employment decision is made.
• PhD in speech technology, linguistics, phonetics, psycholinguistics, HCI, cognitive science, gender studies, media technology or a related field
• Experience with experimental research involving speech, language, listening, communication or human behaviour
• Experience with data analysis and scientific programming (e.g. Python, R or similar)
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in an interdisciplinary research environment

Personal skills:

• We are particularly looking for someone who is creative, perceptive, collaborative and excited about building research that people genuinely enjoy engaging with.
• Awareness of diversity and equal opportunity issues, with specific focus on gender equality

Preferred qualifications:

• A doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, obtained within the last three years prior to the Final date to receive applications
• Experience with speech perception, sociophonetics, experimental linguistics or speech technology
• Experience designing interactive experiments or studies
• Research related to gender, communication, bias or social perception
• Experience with speech synthesis, voice conversion or interactive systems
• Interest in research communication or public engagement

Great emphasis will be placed on personal skills.