Research interests

I lead the communication acoustics research group, having 4 PhD students and 3 MSc students (Nov 2025). The group focuses on spatial super-hearing techniques in different environments, low-frequency modes in rooms, and underwater hydrophone arrays. I have also personal projects on atmospheric elecricity and laser-induced breakdowns in acoustic measurements. 

I have been involved in Acoustics lab since 1995. Perhaps the largest contributions are in the field of spatial audio, where the focus is in methods to capture and reproduce sound in a way that humans will perceive the spatial characteristics in a desired manner. We have also been studying the perception of spatial sound and corresponding functional signal-driven computational models of human auditory pathway in the brains. 

A major effort from me was translation, updation and broadening of finnish book "Kommunikaatioakustiikka" by Matti Karjalainen. The book was published by Wiley in Jan 2015. I am teaching every year corresponding MSc-level course, and the course slides and other material can be found here.

In my PhD studies (1995-2001) I was working on amplitude panning techniques for multi-channel loudspeaker set-ups. I developed then Vector-Base Amplitude Panning (VBAP), which is included in several products and MPEG and 3GPP standards. Download free VBAP software here. After the PhD (2001) I developed with my group Directional Audio Coding (DirAC) method for spatial audio reproduction, coding and synthesis, which has been commercialized by Fraunhofer IIS. A contributed book co-edited by me, Archontis Politis and Symeon Delikaris-Manias is a wide compilation of the technique and related techniques. The book has been published by https://www.wiley.com//legacy/wileychi/pulkki/ and it contains matlab implementations of the techniques. Higher-order DirAC has been standardized in 3GPP IVAS for mobile device use. 

Artistic interests

I have always been practicing different performing arts including music, acting and dancing. 

I have studied music in Sibelius-Acedmy, Dept Musical education 1994-97, and before that in Helsinki Conservatory and Kuula Institute (Vaasa). I have plaid several instruments and studied singing (main: piano). I took also courses on audio engineering and composing. 

I have studied performing arts dancing in several schools, mostly in Stepup, Helsinki. My main styles have been show jazz, hip hop, waacking, and ballet. I have taken acting classes in Copenhagen Int. Sch. Perf. Arts, and in City Academy (London). 

I am interested in writing and composing musicals, and composing music for theatre plays, installations, and other occasions. I have published some of my compositions, including my mathematical fractal compositions in my youtube channel: link.