Research Scientist Intern, Perceptual Audio Scientist (PhD)
Meta

The perception of audio is at the center of our research, as it informs our work in spatial audio, speech intelligibility, defining audio quality, and many of the AR/VR systems. As a Research Scientist Intern on the Advanced Audio Technologies team at Meta Reality Labs, you will be tackling the psychoacoustic challenges that define cutting-edge augmented & virtual reality, conducting research at the intersection of basic and applied science, as it informs our technology directions and identifies opportunities for revolutions in our audio quality metrics and audio experiences.We are seeking a Research Scientist Intern who has a background in psychoacoustics and/or audio perception, and is excited about doing research that helps us inform AR/VR audio requirements and metrics for new technologies. We seek out experience in one or a combination in the following areas: spatial audio, speech intelligibility, audio perceptual evaluation, experimental design, computational modeling of the audio system, audio quality metrics, intensity and loudness perception, ML/AI applications to perceptual audio, audio-visual perception.Meta Reality Labs offers internships ranging from twelve (12) to sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) week periods. We encourage submitting papers to high-ranked computer graphics conferences and journals based on the results of the internship.

Research Scientist Intern, Perceptual Audio Scientist (PhD) Responsibilities:

• Conduct research in how new audio technologies, and/or acoustic systems can impact perceived audio quality on current and future products.
• Develop and execute perceptual audio evaluation studies.
• Derive novel experimental and/or modeling approaches to assess the impact of distortion, compression, spatial and temporal properties, and perceptual artifacts on audio quality in AR/VR.
• Employ existing knowledge of human sensory encoding and audio quality metrics to help guide hardware and software engineering efforts for new technologies.
• Communicate the findings from modeling, psychoacoustics, & empirical experiments to help set target requirements for acoustic systems in AR/VR.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining a PhD in hearing science, acoustics, acoustic engineering, perceptual psychology, psychoacoustics, neuroscience, or a related field with an emphasis on perceptual modeling, psychoacoustics/physics, and/or metrics evaluating perceptual performance.
• 2+ years experience with MATLAB, Python, or similar program for stimulus presentation and analysis.
• 2+ years of experience with experimental methodology, psychophysics, and/or related statistical analysis.
• Knowledge of the human auditory system and experience applying this model to novel situations and predict how the ear, brain, and body will respond.
• Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Intent to return to a degree-program after the completion of the internship/co-op.
• Interpersonal experience: cross-group and cross-culture collaboration.
• Experience with research publicized in high-impact journals and international conference presentations or publications.
• 2+ years of experience conducting research investigating audio quality or audio perception.
• Knowledge of standard audio quality metrics, and deriving new metrics for novel environments and/or display architectures.
• Experience with MATLAB, R, Python, and/or C++.
• Experience with user studies (psychoacoustics), perceptual audio evaluation and/or human factors
• Familiarity with VR, MR, AR platforms.

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