Nils Meyer-Kahlen, postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London on audio rendering for AR
THU 12TH MAR 2026, 2:30PM, MACADAM BUILDING (MAC 302)
Nils Meyer-Kahlen, postdoc at Imperial College London to give talk at King’s Strand campus as part of the MARC Seminar Series, refreshments courtesy of the NMES Research Culture Fund.
If you are unable to attend in person, you may use the following MS Teams link to attend the event virtually: MARC Seminar – Nils Meyer Kahlen | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
Title: Augmented Reality Telepresence as a New Challenge in Virtual Acoustics
Abstract: Augmented Reality (AR) telepresence, specifically so-called “holographic calling”, introduces new and demanding challenges for virtual acoustics. In this talk, I will highlight that high-quality audio rendering for such AR experiences relies on components such as head-tracked binaural rendering, transparent headphones, blind room-acoustic estimation, and efficient reverberation engines. I will discuss paradigms for perceptually evaluating audio for AR based on the emergence of auditory reality illusions and the perceptual limits of cross-modal matching, rather than perceptual indistinguishability. By presenting a series of experiments conducted over the past few years, I will argue for the importance of developing audio for AR technology with clear perceptual aims in mind.
Speaker’s bio: Nils Meyer-Kahlen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Audio Experience Design group at Imperial College London. Prior to his current six-month post in London, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Acoustics Lab in the Department of Information and Communications Engineering at Aalto University, where he also completed his PhD in 2024. Before moving to Finland in 2019, he obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Audio Engineering from the University of Technology and the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria. He interned as a research scientist at Reality Labs Research in 2022 and 2024. His research focuses on virtual acoustics for augmented reality, balancing technological development and human perception.
