APDA-ALTI Education Symposium 2023
Your Gateway to Audio Product Development

June 11 - 13, 2023
DoubleTree by Hilton Universal, Orlando, FL
ALTI-Expo and Conference 2023


The Audio Product Development Alliance (APDA) in association with the Audio & Loudspeaker Technologies International (ALTI) Association, promotes a three day education symposium during the  ALTI Expo & Conference 2023, June 11 - 13, 2023 at the DoubleTree by Hilton at the entrance to Universal, Orlando. Three days to improve your knowledge and skills in the development of audio products, from concept to delivery.


Since 2019, when the former Association of Loudspeaker Manufacturing & Acoustics (ALMA) International changed its identity to become the current Audio & Loudspeaker Technologies International (ALTI) Association, it was decided to held ALTI Expo & Conference, just prior to the InfoComm trade show. That's why ALTI Expo takes place one year in Las Vegas, Nevada and every other year in Orlando, Florida. The location at the DoubleTree by Hilton at Universal Orlando, has been the home of the event since 2019, when held in Florida.

This year, to reinforce the educational aspects of the ALTI Expo & Conference, the Audio Product Development Alliance (APDA) joined forces with the ALTI Association to promote a three day program. With a very strong schedule of sessions, presentations and workshops, the APDA-ALTI Education Symposium 2023 covers Sourcing and Supply Chain topics on the first day, followed by a full day focused on the ​Modeling and Measurement experience, and extending into a education-only third day centered around Voice and DSP.

The first 2 days of APDA content are included for attendees with All Access Pass, or Exhibitor Pass. The 3rd full day of APDA content, on June 13, and is an additional $200 for the full day. That is $699 for 3 days of content and networking, breakfast and lunch all 3 days, and the gala Banquet on Sunday, Day 1.





APDA-ALTI Education Symposium 2023


Sunday June 11 - ​Sourcing and Supply Chain

9:00-9:45
Product Management
 
Introduction to APDA Day 1 – Scott Leslie (APDA Managing Director)

Product Management and Supply Chain Walk Into a Bar
Product Management has become a well-developed and business function today. In this session you will see how detailed Product Management practices from Concept to Definition to Design to Validation to Verification integrates into all facets of the Supply Chain. We will cover these development phases in detail on how each related to key Supply Chain Sourcing decisions and actions.

9:45-10:30
Supply Chain Fundamentals – Circa 2025
Mike Klasco (CEO, Menlo Scientific - APDA Chair)

“Speed, Quality, Cost – Choose 2”
The triad of product development success. How to deal with these conflicting dimensions, why it is important to your product development journey and how it impacts your stakeholders.

10:30-10:40
Break

10:40-12:00
Supply Chain Fundamentals – Circa 2025
Cris Cataudella (VP Pro Audio, Tymphany)

Supplier Partner Models and Relationships
CM, OEM, ODM and now JDM, which is right for you and why?
In this session you will learn about the modern supplier models that are reshaping how products are developed and delivered.

12:00-14:00
Lunch Break
 
14:00-14:45
Leveraging Partners for Technology and Marketing advantage
Jason Marr (Sr. Manager, Strategic Alliances, Logitech)
 
Getting the Logo on Your Box
What it means from a performance and product perspective plus how brands cooperate with leading embedded technology suppliers to improve their products and increase their profile.  “The Intel Inside strategy for audio”.

14:45-15:15
USA Sourcing
Clement Fert (Field Sales Engineer, Acoustics and Sensors, Seltech)
Local and Remote Sourcing: An Update
What are the positives and challenges of sourcing in the US?  What has changed and why you might consider the US as the next frontier of an ever changing supply chain landscape.
 
15:15-15:45
Asia Sourcing Part 1 - What to consider
Mike Klasco (CEO, Menlo Scientific - APDA Chair)
Asia Sourcing: The key factors and considerations
Asia as a sourcing region has matured and expanded from a parts and manufacturing destination to offer all types of service & product offerings. In this session we will cover the challenges and benefits of committing to the services portfolio of companies across Asia versus keeping these functions local to your company. This will include:
• Product Design
• Project Management
• Industrial Design
• Hardware Engineering
• Software Development
• Parts and Materials
• Legal Protection
• Language Barrier
• Time Zone Challenges

15:45-16:00
Break
 
 
16:00-17:00
Asia Sourcing Part 2 - Country by country
Mike Klasco (CEO, Menlo Scientific - APDA Chair)
Cris Cataudella (VP Pro Audio, Tymphany)
Dwight Tobiano (CEO, Radian Audio)

Asian Geography Panel
Our panel will present and hold an open discussion on what you should know about sourcing today in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, China and others throughout Asia.

17:00 – 18:00
End of Day Session
Dave Lindberg (DB Enterprises - APDA Chair) via video (Q&A by Scott Leslie)
Product Development Process – Success Factors with your Supplier Partners


​Monday June 12​ - Modeling and Measurement

9:00 – 10:30
Introduction to APDA Day 2 – Roger Shively (JJR Acoustics - APDA Chair)

Modeling Techniques COMSOL
Jinlan Huang (Principal Applications Engineer for Vibration and Acoustics, COMSOL)

Advancements in Multiphysics simulation for electroacoustic products.
Advancement of the COMSOL Model Builder will show the application of multiphysics features in the Acoustics Modules, including the couplings with structural mechanics, piezoelectricity, and fluid flow and specialized formulations and material models, like thermoviscous acoustics, used in miniature transducers and mobile devices, or Biot's equations, used for modeling poroelastic waves.

10:40 – 10:50
 
Break
 
10:50 – 11:20

Steve Hutt (Equity Sound - APDA)
Roger Shively (JJR Acoustics - APDA Chair)
 
Digital Twins
Utilizing the Digital Twin method, a case study is reviewed that analyzes how loudspeaker production variance affects audio system performance. This method enables interchanging components without perturbing the system, effectively eliminating measurement uncertainty between comparisons. Binaural Room Impulse Responses are convolved to create auralizations of different scenarios that are then subjectively evaluated by a listening panel to compare audible differences.

11:20-12:00
 
Mark Cops (Applications Engineer for Acoustics, COMSOL)
 
Audio Product Development with COMSOL
Practical modeling studies from loudspeakers developed using COMSOL will show the application of multiphysics features in the Acoustics Modules

12:00-14:00
Lunch Break
 
 

14:00-15:30
Modeling and Measurement COMSOL
Jinlan Huang & Mark Cops
 
Klippel
Robert Werner (Applications Engineer, Klippel)
Integration of Simulation and Measurement Data.
Modeling and Simulation has advanced greatly with the innovation in software tools brought to market by companies like COMSOL.
Measurement systems today can and do collect vast amounts of data about product performance, quality, consistency, etc.
The next frontier is bridging the gap between simulation data and measurement data from leaders from both discpilines in that industry for audio products. Covered will be the data management, comparison, and model updates for optimization, the most powerful part of the Audio Production Simulation and Production Cycle.

15:30-16:15
Measurement Techniques
Jacob Soendergaard (Principal Engineer, HEAD Acoustics)

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score
How to you measure Audio Quality put it into an objective and easy to grasp (and compare) format. The MDAQS algorithm: Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score.

16:15 – 17:00
Directional Measurements for Spatial Audio Research 
Steve Temme (Founder and President, Listen)

In addition to traditional frequency response, distortion, phase etc., a complete set of measurements increasingly includes directional characteristics. In this short demonstration, Listen will show how directional measurements can be made quickly, accurately and in an ordinary room to help develop products for spatial audio applications.





Tuesday June 13 - Voice and DSP


8:30 – 9:00
Introductions and Welcome
Introduction to APDA Day 3 – Steve Willenborg (VP Sales, Linkplay - APDA Chair)

The continued development of improved audio products relies on new techniques and development tools. At ADPA we strive to showcase the technologies and methods that are essential to product development engineering using the most advanced tools available including many that will be presented today. The use of DSP and AI/ML will continue to influence and enable new and exciting audio designs. These technologies are rapidly evolving and with the combination of deep learning and electro-acoustic engineering it is a very exciting time in the audio/acoustics products field.

9:00 – 9:50
Designing for Conferencing Differentiation
Paul Beckmann (Chief Technical Officer, DSP Concepts)

Overcoming the Challenges of High-Quality Conferencing
Voice conferencing products are notoriously difficult to build.   Even relatively basic designs such as a single mic “voice puck” requires hours of testing and tuning to achieve a satisfying user experience.  More advanced designs with microphone arrays and satellite microphones introduce finicky, potentially time consuming problem-solving at both the hardware and software levels.  Meeting the rigorous standards for Microsoft Teams and Zoom certification requires significant expertise and specialized facilities.  In this talk, DSP Concepts CTO Paul Beckmann discusses the challenges in making high-quality conferencing and the key steps to achieving a differentiated product.


09:50-10:00
Break
 
 
10:00 – 11:30
Machine Learning Enablement
Josh Morris (Sales Engineer, DSP Concepts)

The Audio Weaver ML Module Pack Training
Machine Learning is fundamentally changing every aspect of audio processing.  In this special Audio Weaver ML Module Pack training session, you will learn how to train your own keyword spotting system using TensorFlow and the Audio Weaver development platform. The highlight of the talk will be a live demonstration showing how to profile, tune, and visualize the model in real-time in Audio Weaver running on the Arm Cortex-M55 and Ethos-U55 microNPU.


11:30 – 13:00
Lunch – Buffet
Demos and networking

Table demonstrations
• DSPC – 3 tables
• XMOS – 1 table

13:00 – 14:00
Presentation 1 - XMOS
Eric Skup (VP Customer Acquisition and Success, DSP Concepts) Plus DSP Concepts Engineering Team
 
DSP Concepts
Development Kit Training
The latest XMOS Xcore crossover processor features xcore-voice, a complete voice solution pre-integrated with Audio Weaver.  Xcore architecture combines AI, DSP, I/O and control in a single economical device. In this session, attendees will get a first-look at the EVK running the TalkTogether voice comms technology and playback modules in Audio Weaver on the RISC-V architecture.

14:00 – 15:30
Audio Weaver Training Part 1
Discover how Audio Weaver makes audio innovation easy in this introductory training session.  This short session is a preview of the full online training offered once per month by DSP Concepts.
• Audio Weaver Overview
• Audio Weaver Designer GUI
• Standard Designer Processing Modules
• Audio Weaver Core Embedded Libraries
• Audio Weaver Use Cases

15:30 – 16:00
Break

16:00 – 17:30
Audio Weaver Training Part 2
Part 2 of the Audio Weaver training session provides hands-on experience with Audio Weaver centered on a conferencing use case. Participants will learn how to navigate the TalkTogether voice comms layout and tune playback running on the STMicro STM32H747 MCU.


APDA-ALTI Education Symposium 2023
June 11 - 13 
ALTI-Expo and Conference 2023
DoubleTree by Hilton Universal, Orlando, FL
https://altiassoc.org/alti-expo-conference-2023/



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Bios



Jason Marr is a highly accomplished business leader with 20 years of experience in the AV technology industry, working with companies such as THX, Dolby, Sonarworks. He currently holds the role of Sr. Manager, GTM & Strategic Alliances at Logitech, driving the relationship with Google globally. His experience spans across multiple verticals including: gaming, home theater, professional studios, consumer electronics, enterprise IT, Pro AV, and professional cinema. Some of the companies he has worked with in the past include Harman, Bose, Plantronics, Razer, and Crestron.