Munich - Apr 23, 2009 - After reviewing forty nominated manuscripts, the AES 126th Convention Student Paper Awards Coordinator Rob Maher and Papers Cochairmen Geoff Martin and Guenther Theile have announced the winning submission. The Award will be presented to student author Marko Hiipakka for his work Modeling of External Ear Acoustics for Insert Headphone Usage. Hiipakka's co-authors were Miikka Tikander, and Matti Karjalainen of the Helsinki University of Technology.

Hiipakka will receive his award following the presentation of his paper on May 8.  The paper will be reviewed for publication in the Journal of The Audio Engineering Society later this year.

Hiipakka was born in Finland in 1973, and graduated as M.Sc. (Eng.) from Helsinki University of Technology in 2008 with a major in acoustics and audio signal processing. He joined the Laboratory of Acoustics and Audio Signal Processing in May 2008 and was named a researcher in January 2009. Working with physical simulators and computational modeling as his essential tools, his current research and postgraduate studies focus on the acoustics of the outer ear, headphones, and directional hearing.

Hiipakka has a passion for singing in (and conducting) choirs, and performing in quartets and a rock band.

Student Paper Award Nominees are required to meet the following qualifications:
1) Paper accepted for presentation at the convention
2) Author was a student member when the work was conducted and the manuscript prepared
3) The student author's affiliation listed in manuscript is an accredited educational institution
4) The student will deliver the lecture or poster presentation at the convention