The SOUNDS European Training Network (ETN) revolves around a new and promising paradigm coined as Service-Oriented, Ubiquitous, Network-Driven Sound. Inspired by the ubiquity of mobile and wearable devices capable of capturing, processing, and reproducing sound, the SOUNDS ETN has aimed to bring audio technology to a new level by exploiting network-enabled cooperation between devices. The Internet-of Things (IoT) has created numerous opportunities for audio technology by allowing devices to mutually connect and establish ad-hoc networks. However, it has also led to a technology gap, in that IoT-connected audio devices could achieve much more than simply streaming audio from one device to the other.
The SOUNDS ETN has contributed to filling this gap by adding a software layer in which audio devices cooperate, on top of the connectivity provided by the IoT. We thus envision the next-generation audio technology to be capable of providing enhanced hearing assistance, creating immersive audio experience, enabling advanced voice control and much more, by seamlessly exchanging signals and parameter settings, and by spatially analyzing, processing, and reproducing sound jointly with other nearby audio devices and infrastructure. Moreover, such functionality should be self-organizing, flexible, and scalable, requiring minimal user interaction for adapting to changes in the environment or network. It is anticipated that this paradigm will eventually result in an entirely new way of designing and using audio technology, by considering audio as a service enabled through shared infrastructure, rather than as a device-specific functionality limited by the capabilities and constraints of a single user device.
To attain this paradigm shift in audio technology not only requires additional research but also calls for a new generation of qualified researchers with a transdisciplinary and international scientific profile, strong collaborative research and research management skills, and the intersectoral expertise needed to carry research results from academia to industry. The SOUNDS ETN has offered the best possible framework for achieving these goals, by organizing advanced, interdisciplinary research training, developing solid transferable skills, and providing intersectoral and international experience in a network of qualified and complementary industrial and academic institutions.
