2nd International Workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots

29-30 August 2019
London, UK

The workshop proceedings are now available here.

Almost all animals exploit vocal signals for a range of ecologically-motivated purposes: from detecting predators/prey and marking territory, to expressing emotions, establishing social relations and sharing information. Whether it’s a bird raising an alarm, a whale calling to potential partners, a dog responding to human commands, a parent reading a story with a child, or a businessperson accessing stock prices using Siri on an iPhone, vocalisation provides a valuable communications channel through which behaviour may be coordinated and controlled, and information may be distributed and acquired. Indeed, the ubiquity of vocal interaction has led to research across a diverse array of fields, from assessing animal welfare, to understanding the precursors of human language, to developing voice-based human-machine interaction. Clearly, there is potential for cross-fertilisation between disciplines; for example, using robots to investigate contemporary theories of language grounding, using machine learning to analyse different habitats or adding vocal expressivity to the next generation of autonomous social agents. However, many opportunities remain unexplored, not least due to the lack of a suitable forum.

VIHAR-2019 is the second international workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots. Taking place in London, UK on 29-30 August 2019, VIHAR-2019 aims to bring together researchers studying vocalisation and speech-based interaction in-and-between humans, animals and robots from a variety of different fields. VIHAR-2019 will provide an opportunity to share and discuss theoretical insights, best practices, tools and methodologies, and to identify common principles underpinning vocal behaviour in a multi-disciplinary environment.

VIHAR-2019 is scheduled to take place as a satellite event immediately before the 2019 International Bioacoustics Congress (which takes place in Brighton, UK). We are aiming to keep the registration fee as low as possible.

We invite original submissions of papers or extended abstracts that relate to innovative topics in any area of vocal interaction in-and-between humans, animals and robots. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two members of the Scientific Review Committee. Accepted submissions will be published in the (indexed) VIHAR-2019 Proceedings.

The workshop follows the success of the 1st International workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots (VIHAR-2017).

If you wish to join the VIHAR community, you can read more about us here, subscribe to our mailing list here, and follow the VIHAR-2019 twitter account or Facebook group.