Deputy Director and Research Scientist
Psychoacoustics and Experimental Audiology

Tel. +43 1 51581-2511
Email: piotr.majdak(at)oeaw.ac.at

Scientific IDs:
ORCID (0000-0003-1511-6164), Scopus, Research Gate, Google Scholar

Academic background

After completing a technical school for electrical engineering, Piotr Majdak studied audio engineering at the University of Technology in Graz (TU-Graz) and at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz (KUG). During his studies, he  developed hardware and software for measurement tools and process-controlling devices.

Piotr Majdak graduated with the Master's thesis entitled "Implementation of a head related binaural technique", in which he dealt with a real-time binaural system called Ambisonics. In that project, Ambisonics allowed the inclusion of the listener’s head movements without the need for time-variant filtering, and therefore a reduction of the computational power. As part of the thesis, the binaural system was implemented for a digital signal processor platform including a head-tracker. The Master's thesis was done jointly with Markus Noisternig.

In 2002, he joined ARI as a junior researcher being involved in setting-up the group "Psychoacoustics and experimental audiology".

In 2008, he finished his PhD about sound lateralization in cochlear-implant listeners, in which the effects of different aspects of the interaural time differences on sound lateralization are described.

In 2015, his habilitation for the area "Acoustics and audio engineering" was approved, which allows him to supervise PhD students at the KUG.

Current research

General research field is spatial hearing, in particular:

  • Sound localization in normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and cochlear-implant listeners;
  • Virtual acoustics;
  • Effects of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and its numerical simulation;
  • General binaural effects in electric hearing.

Piotr Majdak was the main developer of ExpSuite, an open-source software framework for psychoacoustic experiments in normal-hearing and cochlear-implant listeners, used at ARI since 2003 and now mainly developed by Michael Mihocic. Piotr Majdak is the main developer of the SOFA API and the Auditory Modeling Toolbox.

A list of projects in which Piotr participates or participated can be found here.

Projects

Projects

Publications

Publications

  • Barumerli R.; Majdak P.; Geronazzo M.; Meijer D.; Avanzini F.; Baumgartner R. (2023) A Bayesian model for human directional localization of broadband static sound sources. Acta Acustica, Bd. 7, S. 12.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Pollack K.; Majdak P.; Furtado H. (2023) Application of non-rigid registration to photogrammetrically reconstructed pinna point clouds for the calculation of personalised head-related transfer functions. Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2023. Hamburg S. 1094 - 1098.
    RISENWBIB
  • McLachlan G.; Majdak P.; Reijniers J.; Mihocic M.; Peremans H. (2023) Dynamic spectral cues do not affect human sound localization during small head movements. Frontiers in Neuroscience, Bd. 17, S. 102782.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Hollomey C.; Majdak P.; Baumgartner R. (2022) The Auditory Modeling Toolbox 1.x. Proceedings: A11, Psychoacoustics, ICA 2022. Gyeongju S. 37-40.
    RISENWBIB
  • Picinali L.; Katz B.F.; Geronazzo M.; Majdak P.; Reyes-Lecuona A.; Vinciarelli A. (2022) The SONICOM Project: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Immersive Audio, From Personalization to Modeling [Applications Corner]. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Bd. 39/6, S. 85-88.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Katz B.F.G.; Majdak P. (Eds.) (2022) Advances in Fundamental and Applied Research on Spatial Audio. IntechOpen, London.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Pollack K.; Kreuzer W.; Majdak P. (2022) Modern Acquisition of Personalised Head - Related Transfer Functions: An Overview. In: Advances in Fundamental and Applied Research on Spatial Audio.. IntechOpen, London S. 25-61.
    DOIDownloadRISENWBIB
  • Kreuzer W.; Pollack K.; Majdak P.; Brinkmann F. (2022) Mesh2HRTF / NumCalc: An Open-Source Project to CalculateHRTFs and wave scattering in 3D. Proceedings of the Euroregio/BNAM 2022. Aalborg, Denmark S. 443-452.
    RISENWBIB
  • Lindenbeck M.; Majdak P.; Laback B. (2022) Channel interactions have less impact on temporal-pitch than ITD sensitivity in dual-electrode cochlear implant stimulation. 19th International Symposium on Hearing (ISH). Lyon, France.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Barumerli R.; Majdak P.; Geronazzo M.; Avanzini F.; Meijer D.; Baumgartner R. (2022) Evaluation of spatial tasks in virtual acoustic environments by means of modeling individual localization performances. Proceedings: A21, Virtual Acoustics, ICA 2022. Gyeongju S. 64-66.
    RISENWBIB
  • Barumerli R.; Majdak P. (2022) Towards a general probabilistic framework to predict human sound localization. Proceedings: A11, Psychoacoustics, ICA 2022. Gyeongju S. 161-163.
    RISENWBIB
  • Kasess C. H.; Maly T.; Kirisits C.; Majdak P.; Waubke H. (2022) Annoyance of railway curve squeal. Proceedings of the Inter.Noise 2022. Glasgow S. 313-320.
    RISENWBIB
  • Peremans H.; McLachlan G.; Majdak P.; Reijniers J. (2022) Ideal versus non-ideal observer models for sound localization. Proceedings: A11, Psychoacoustics, ICA 2022. Gyeongju S. 181-188.
    RISENWBIB
  • Majdak P.; Zotter F.; Brinkmann F.; De Muynke J.; Mihocic M.; Noisternig M. (2022) Spatially Oriented Format for Acoustics 2.1: Introduction and Recent Advances. J. Audio Engineering Soc., Bd. 70/7/8, S. 565-584.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Pollack K.; Pausch F.; Majdak P. (2022) Parametric pinna model for a realistic representation of listener-specific pinna geometry. Proceedings: A21, Virtual Acoustics, ICA 2022. Gyeongju S. 168-178.
    RISENWBIB
  • Osses Vecchi A.; Varnet L.; Carney L. H.; Dau T.; Bruce I. C.; Verhulst S.; et al. (2022) A comparative study of eight human auditory models of monaural processing. Acta AcusticaActa Acustica, Bd. 6.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Majdak P.; Hollomey C.; Baumgartner R. (2022) AMT 1.x: A toolbox for reproducible research in auditory modeling. Acta AcusticaActa Acustica, Bd. 6/19, S. 1-17.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Pollack K.; Majdak P. (2022) Nichtrigide Anpassung von Punktwolken zur Berechnung von personalisierten Head-Related Transfer Functions. Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2022. Stuttgart.
    RISENWBIB
  • Kreuzer W.; Brinkmann F.; Pollack K.; Majdak P. (2022) MeMesh2HRTF/NumCalc: Ein quelloffenes Paket zur Berechnung von HRTFs und akustischer Wellenausbreitung in 3D. Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2022. Stuttgart.
    RISENWBIB
  • Pollack K.; Majdak P. (2022) Parametrische Darstellung der Pinnageometrie zur Berechnung von personalisierten Head-Related Transfer Functions. Fortschritte der Akustik - DAGA 2022. Stuttgart.
    RISENWBIB

Additional Information

Additional Information

Functions

Piotr Majdak is responsible for ARI's experimental facilities. He is also in charge for ethical issues at the ARI. Since January 2016, he is the deputy director of the ARI.

Teaching

He teaches "Algorithmen in Akustik und Computermusik" (algorithms in acoustic and computer music) at the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, KUG in Graz. Since 2014, he also teaches "Audiotechnik" at the Fachhochschule Technikum Wien.

Professional societies and activities

Piotr Majdak is member of the ASA, AAA ,DEGA, ARO, and the president of the Austrian section of the AES.

Since December 2020 Piotr Majdak is chairing the technical comittee of the Psychological and Physiological Acoustics (PPA) of the European Acoustics Association (EAA)