Studentship funding is available in the form of a Wolfson Microelectronics/EPSRC Industrial CASE award for a student starting full-time PhD research at the University of Surrey's Institute of Sound Recording (IoSR) in July or October 2012 in the area of microphone quality metering and enhancement.  The studentship will last for 3.5 years, will cover the cost of UK/EC tuition fees and will provide a home/UK applicant (having a relevant connection with the UK, usually established by residence) with an annual stipend of approximately £15.5k tax-free.

The project aims to identify the perceptual attributes determining the perceived quality of the signal produced by a microphone, and to develop algorithms to analyse and process this signal to measure and enhance the most important of these attributes.  It is likely to involve investigation of established timbral (and possibly spatial) auditory attributes and quality factors, experimental determination of perceived differences between microphones, correlation of perceived differences with measurable acoustic differences, and development and testing of signal processing algorithms to extract and enhance key perceptual attributes and to predict overall perceived quality.  The research has many potential communication- and recording-related applications and it is required that the successful applicant will spend a proportion of their time working with Wolfson Microelectronics R&D engineers at Wolfson's premises in Newbury and/or Edinburgh.

The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate a high level of academic achievement in subject areas relevant to the project and a clear aptitude for research.  Typically this will mean having a good bachelors degree (first-class or high upper second) with a significant final-year project or dissertation, or a good masters degree (achieving or approaching distinction) with a significant research project element.  Prior work involving psychoacoustics and auditory modelling, listening-based experiment design and execution, statistical analysis, acoustic measurement, and signal processing in MATLAB, will be particularly advantageous.

More information about the IoSR can be found under the Institute of Sound Recording link to the left of this text.  For more about Wolfson Microelectronics see www.wolfsonmicro.com.  For more detailed EPSRC studentship eligibility rules please see www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/pages/eligibility.aspx

To apply for the studentship please follow our standard PhD applications procedure as detailed on the MPhil PhD Sound Recording page (see link on left) stating on your application form that you would like to be considered for the Wolfson Microelectronics/EPSRC Studentship and steering your research proposal toward the project outlined above.  Applications must be received by Thursday 26 April 2012.  It is expected that interviews will be held mid-to-late May.