Dr. Bernd Accou is a Post-Doctoral Researcher of the Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at the KU Leuven. He obtained a bachelor's degree (2017), a master's (2018) degree in Engineering Technology, and a Ph.D. (2023) in Biomedical Sciences from KU Leuven. He received the PhD Quick Pitch Award from Neurotech Leuven in 2022 and the Best Impact Award from CogHear 2023 organizers in 2023. He co-organized the ICASSP 2023 and 2024 auditory EEG decoding challenges. His research interests include deep learning, EEG decoding, listening engagement, biosignals, signal processing, and speech recognition.
Dr. Marlies Gillis is a Ph.D. Researcher of the Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at the KU Leuven. He received a bachelor's degree in Biosystems Engineering at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, KU Leuven in 2016 and a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, UGent in 2018. He started his doctoral training at Research Group Experimental ORL, Department Neurosciences, KU Leuven in 2018 and was awarded the FWO Strategic Basic research grant "Fast and precise automatic measurement of speech understanding on multiple diagnostic levels" in 2019. His research interests include language processing by the brain during listening, neural markers of higher-level language processing, impact of aging, aphasia, dyslexia, etc., on neural responses to speech.
Dr. Wendy Verheijen is the Lab Manager of the Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at KU Leuven. She received a master's degree in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Science, Chemistry from KU Leuven in 1997 and 2004, respectively. From 2004 to 2005 she was a post-doctoral researcher at Université Catholique de Louvain-La-Neuve (UCL). From 2005 to 2006 she was a post-doctoral researcher at KU Leuven. From 2006 to 2012, she served as a purchaser and policy offer for (bio)chemical products and lab materials, Purchasing Department at KU Leuven. Dr. Wendy Verheijen was the Head of the Purchasing Department at KU Leuven from 2012 to 2016. After completing a project on US Federal funding at Leuven Research and Development as advisor on European and International projects, she returned to science, albeit in a different field from her educational background: in 2018, she started as a lab manager at ExpORL.
Prof. Dr. Hugo Van hamme is a Full Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1992. Prof. Dr. Hugo Van hamme is a member of the Division ESAT - Processing of Speech and a member of the Images and Leuven.AI - KU Leuven Institute for Artificial Intelligence. His research keywords include speech processing, artificial intelligence, and speech recognition.
Prof. Dr. Tom Francart received a Ph.D. degree in engineering from the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2008. Since 2013, he has been a research professor at the University of Leuven, and since 2022, a full-time tenured professor (“hoogleraar”). His research interests include objective measures of hearing (including EEG-based measures), auditory prostheses (including smart hearing devices) and general audiology and auditory neuroscience. His work follows a multidisciplinary approach that links electrical engineering with audiology and neuroscience. This research comprises the entire chain from fundamental curiosity-driven research towards applications in clinical practice, and eventually impact on society. Apart from science, Prof. Francart aims to create a work environment where people can develop themselves personally and scientifically.
