4th International Workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots

6 September 2024 Kos, Greece (Interspeech 2024 Satellite Event) and 9 September 2024 (online)

If you plan to attend the workshop in person, please register at the Eventbrite registration page or the Interspeech 2024 registration page.

Many animals use vocal signals for a range of ecologically-motivated purposes: from detecting predators/prey and marking territory, to expressing emotions or physiological state, 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 business person accessing stock prices using Siri on an iPhone, vocalization provides a valuable communication channel through which behavior may be coordinated, social interactions are mediated, and information is acquired and distributed. 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 decode animal communication 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.

The growing interest in deciphering animal communication and communicating with other species has driven the development of a test, aka the Dolittle test. Similar to the Turing test, the Dolittle test attempts to define clear criteria for passing a threshold of inter-species communication.

VIHAR-2024 is the forth international workshop on Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots. . It will take place in a hybrid format and will be hosted in Kos, Greece on 6th September 2024 and online on 9th September 2024. VIHAR-2024 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-2024 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-2024 is scheduled to take place as a satellite event 6th September 2024 (Kos, Greece) and 9th September 2024 (online), immediately after Interspeech 2024 (which takes place in Kos, Greece) and it is supported by the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA).

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-2024 Proceedings.

Following the inaugural workshop in Dagstuhl in 2016, VIHAR was held in 2017 (Sweden), 2019 (London) and 2021 (Paris, online). VIHAR is maintained by the ‘VIHAR International Steering Committee’. VIHAR also has a mailing list and Facebook Group.

This event adheres to the ISCA Code of Conduct.