Tom Bäckström

Professor Tom Bäckström is a faculty member at Aalto University, focusing on advanced speech and audio processing technologies with a strong emphasis on privacy and security in voice communication systems. His work addresses challenges posed by smart devices and speech interfaces, particularly in ensuring privacy in public spaces and open environments.

Research interests include speech privacy preservation, distributed speech/audio coding, federated learning for on-device speaker recognition, and the ethical design of conversational AI systems. His contributions span technical innovations like anonymization techniques for speaker attributes, real-time noise suppression, and privacy-aware acoustic systems.

Recent studies highlight user perceptions of anonymity in voice assistants across cultures, optimization of vector quantization methods, and the integration of machine learning into speech enhancement frameworks. While no specific awards or grants are explicitly listed in the provided texts, his prolific publication record reflects sustained impact in signal processing and privacy research.

He leads a research group exploring the intersection of audio engineering and privacy, emphasizing practical solutions for emerging technologies like IoT audio networks and smart office acoustics. His work bridges theoretical advancements with real-world applications, addressing both technical and socio-ethical dimensions of speech technology.