Double triumph: Aalto acoustics researchers win big in Italy

Last week, researchers Eloi Moliner and Professor Vesa Välimäki from the Aalto Acoustics Lab were honoured in Ancona, Italy, for their research. The awards were presented at the DAFx 2025 international conference on digital audio effects.

Eloi Moliner, who had earned his Doctor of Science in Technology degree just days before the event, received the Second-Best Paper Award for a collaborative work between him, Prof. Lauri Juvela and Prof. Vesa Välimäki from Aalto University, Mr. Michal Švento and Prof. Pavel Rajmic from Brno University of Technology, and Dr. Alec Wright from The University of Edinburgh. Švento, who collaborated on this study last year when he visited Aalto, presented the paper. The paper explores the use of unsupervised learning to estimate nonlinear audio processing, a breakthrough that could significantly enhance how audio effects are modeled.

Meanwhile, the Third Best Paper Award went to a team led by Prof. Vesa Välimäki, featuring Roope Salmi (Aalto University), Prof. Stefan Bilbao (The University of Edinburgh), Prof. Sebastian Schlecht (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), and Dr. David Zicarelli, CEO of Cycling '74 (USA). Their paper introduced a novel method for transforming long audio recordings by removing phase information, resulting in a surreal, echoic sound that retains the original timbre while blurring temporal details — a technique with exciting implications for music production and sound design.

This marks Dr. Moliner’s fourth publication award, cementing his reputation as a rising star in the field of audio machine learning and AI.

'It’s a proud moment for the Aalto Acoustics Lab and our collaborators. These awards reflect the strength of our international collaboration and the creativity driving our audio research,' Prof. Välimäki says.

From the links below, you can have a look at the winning articles and listen to the processed sounds: 

• Paper on Unsupervised Estimation of Nonlinear Audio Effects (Second Best Paper Award winner)
• Sound examples on Unsupervised Estimation of Nonlinear Audio Effects
• Paper on Zero-Phase Sound via Giant FFT (Third Best Paper Award winner)
• Sound examples on Zero-Phase Sound via Giant FFT

More information

Vesa Välimäki, Professor of audio signal processing
Department of Information and Communication Engineering / Acoustics Lab
School of Electrical Engineering
Aalto University