Bogdan Ioan Bacila

PhD, BSc

Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR),
University of Southampton,
Southampton, SO17 1BJ,
United Kingdom

Profile

A Music Technology and Audio Systems graduate with a PhD in Psychoacoustics, driven by a passion for turning big ideas into reality. With expertise in perceptual evaluation of spatial audio, in both automotive environments and concert halls, I thrive on tackling challenging projects, channelling discipline, focus, and hard work into achieving the best possible outcomes. Committed to applying and expanding the expertise I’ve developed over the years, I’m always excited to contribute to innovative and impactful projects.

Specialized in

Perceptual evaluation of Spatial Audio.

Research interests

Automotive audio, spatial audio, perceptual audio evaluation, psychoacoustics, binaural audio, concert hall acoustics, guitar pickup modelling

Work Experience

Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), University of Southampton, UK
Aug 2023 - Present Research Fellow
  • Part of a team working with an international commercial partner, researching into the subjective perception of spatial audio in automotive environments.
  • Acquire acoustical measurements in the vehicle cabin using a range of instruments, including but not limited to: KU100, Eigenmike, using custom acquisition scripts developed in Python.
  • Develop and conduct in-situ listening tests in a physical vehicle using Max/MSP for both the real-time audio processing and the listening test interface.
  • Develop and evaluate new metrics to estimate the subjective perception of spatial attributes in a vehicle, using Python.
  • Co-supervised bachelor, masters and group design projects.
Applied Psychoacoustics Laboratory, University of Huddersfield, UK
Jan 2022 - Jul 2022 Research Assistant
  • APL Head Tracker - A basic inexpensive DIY head tracker developed for audio applications
  • APL OSC Bridge - Interface between the APL head tracker and applications audio applications which require OSC messages. public release coming soon
Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, Germany
Dec 2018 - Dec 2019 Quality Assurance Engineer (Part-Time)
  • Develop and implement the automatic testing procedures for the MPEG-H Authoring Plugin, used in the CI/CD pipelines.
  • Manual testing for each platform and DAW.
  • General development of the plugin in an Agile team, using C++ and JUCE. .
Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, Germany
Aug 2016 - Aug 2017 Student Intern
  • Development, as part of an Agile team of the Cingo Composer plugin, using C++ and JUCE.
  • Building and deployment of the plugin for all the platforms and DAWs.
  • GUI development.

Voluntary Experience

2020 - 2023

President - Romanian Students Society - University of Huddersfield

2020 - 2021

Social Officer - University of Huddersfield Archery Club

2019 - 2021

3D Printing Specialist - 3D Printing Society - University of Huddersfield

2019 - 2020

Vice-President - Romanian Students Society - University of Huddersfield

Education

University of Huddersfield, UK
2018 - 2023 PhD in Psychoacoustics
  • Apr 2023: Viva passed with minor corrections.
  • Dec 2022: Submitted the doctoral thesis titled “Listener-Perspective Dependency of Spatial Impression in a reverberant concert hall” [Thesis Available here]
University of Huddersfield, UK
2014 - 2018 B.Sc.(Hons) in Music Technology and Audio systems
  • First class degree: 77 out of 100.
  • Final year project focused on the implementation and evaluation of real-time, read-tracked binaural in-ear-monitoring system for live music applications. [Poster available here]
HCC National College, Alba Iulia, Romania
2010 - 2014 Romanian Baccalaureate
  • Baccalaureate degree: 9.23 out of 10.

Skills

Software development

  • Python
  • Matlab/Octave
  • C++/C
  • HTML/JavaScript/CSS + Hugo (for static sites)
  • Git/Agile/Jira

Audio analysis

  • Room Eq Wizard
  • Pyfar
  • HAART

Audio processing

  • MaxMSP/Pure Data
  • Reaper/Audacity
  • Logic Pro/Pro Tools

Statistics

  • R
  • Pandas

3D modelling

  • Fusion 360
  • Shapr3D

Hardware development

  • Arduino
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Bela
  • KiCad EDA

Notes and Typesetting

  • \LaTeX
  • Markdown

Multimedia

  • Affinity Designer
  • DaVinci Resolve

Other

  • Dante
  • Ravenna

Publications

Journals

2021 Băcilă, B. I., & Lee, H. (2021). Listener-Position and Orientation Dependency of Auditory Perception in an Enclosed Space: Elicitation of Salient Attributes. Applied Sciences, 11(4), 1570.

Conferences

2023 Bacila, B., & Lee, H. (2023, August). Perceptual dimensions of listener envelopment (LEV) in a positional and directional-varying context. In Audio Engineering Society Conference: AES 2023 International Conference on Spatial and Immersive Audio. Audio Engineering Society.

2020 Bacila, B., & Lee, H. (2020b, October 22). Listener-perspective-dependent variation of interaural cross-correlation coefficient in a reverberant space. Audio Engineering Society Convention 149.

Bacila, B., & Lee, H. (2020a, May 28). Listener-perspective dependency of perceived auditory attributes in a concert hall. Audio Engineering Society Convention 148.

2019 Bacila, B. I., & Lee, H. (2019b, June 23). Subjective elicitation of listener-perspective-dependent spatial attributes in a reverberant room, using the repertory grid technique. International Conference on Auditory Display, Newcastle upon Tyne.

2019 Bacila, B. I., & Lee, H. (2019a, March 10). 360° Binaural Room Impulse Response (BRIR) Database for 6DOF Spatial Perception Research. Audio Engineering Society Convention 146 [Poster available here]

Co-authored

2022 Franco Hernández, Juan Carlos; Bacila, Bogdan; Brookes, Tim; De Sena, Enzo. (2022) A Multi-Angle, Multi-Distance Dataset of Microphone Impulse Responses. J. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 70, no. 10, pp. 882–893

Awards

2018 Departmental award for the best final year project. - University of Huddersfield

Hobbies

Music:

  • Bass
  • Guitar
  • Kaval

Sports and outdoor activities:

  • Sailing - Day Skipper certificate (2024)
  • Archery - AGB Licenced “Session (level 1) Coach”
  • Golf - 2nd place in Romanian junior national championships (2007,2008)
  • Alpine skiing - Competed in national competitions between 2007-2011.
  • Cycling
  • Climbing

Making:

  • 3D Printing
  • Woodworking
  • Luthiery - Some of my projects can be seen on my YouTube channel.
  • Leatherworking
Last updated: 16 Jan 2025