I am a CNRS researcher affiliated to École Normale Supérieure de Paris (Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs). My research focuses on hearing and speech, with an emphasis on the interface between the two domains. I am particularly interested in developing statistical techniques and signal processing methods to investigate various aspects of auditory perception.
My research revolves around two main topics. The first axis is focused on investigating the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the decoding of speech sounds into phonemes. The second line of research examines the perception of amplitude and frequency modulations by the auditory system in humans, with a particular interest in understanding the effects of hearing loss.
Je suis Chargé de Recherche au CNRS, affilié au Laboratoire des Système Perceptifs de l’École Normale Supérieure de Paris. Mes recherches portent sur l’audition humaine et le langage, avec un accent particulier sur l’interface entre ces deux domaines. Je m’intéresse notamment au développement de techniques statistiques et de traitement de signal pour étudier divers aspects de la perception auditive.
Actuellement, mes recherches s’articulent autour de deux projets principaux. Le premier projet est axé sur l’étude des mécanismes cognitifs qui sous-tendent la conversion des sons de la parole en percepts phonémiques. Le second projet étudie la perception des modulations d’amplitude et de fréquence par le système auditif chez l’homme, avec un intérêt particulier pour la compréhension des effets des pertes auditives.
Contact
Email : leo.varnet [at] ens.psl.eu
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CV
Current position:
| 2019 – … | Chargé de Recherche CNRS (section 34, Linguistics) at the Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs (UMR 8248), ENS-PSL |
Education:
| 2012 – 2015 | PhD in Cognitive Sciences (funded by the Neurosciences and Cognition Doctoral School) at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives (Lyon). Thesis title: “Identification of acoustic cues used in degraded speech comprehension”. Supervisors: M. Hoen & F. Meunier. |
| 2010 – 2011 | Master’s Degree in Cognitive Science in Grenoble (Grenoble INP, Joseph Fourier University) |
| 2008 – 2011 | Signal Processing Engineer: student in the engineer school Phelma, Grenoble INP, specialization in « Signal and Image Processing, Communication Systems, Multimedia» |
| 2006 – 2008 | Preparatory classes for admission to the French « Grandes Ecoles », in mathematics and physics |
| 2006 | Baccalauréat S (High School Diploma in Sciences) |
Previous positions:
| 2018 – 2019 | Honorary Researcher at the University College of London, department SHaPS. Collaboration with S. Rosen and V. Hazan. |
| 2016 – 2018 | Postdoctoral fellow at ENS Paris under the supervision of C. Lorenzi (Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs). Collaboration with Starkey Hearing Technologies. |
| 2015 – 2016 | Postdoctoral fellow at ENS Paris under the supervision of C. Lorenzi (Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs). Collaboration with the Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception (Paris). |
| 2012 | One-year CNRS engineer position at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team (dir. O. Bertrand) |
| 2011 | 6-month end-of-studies internship in the SpiN Project Team in Lyon (dir. M. Hoen and F. Meunier) |
| 2010 | 3-month internship at GIPSA-lab in Grenoble (dir. M. Congedo and B. Rivet) |
Teaching (see Enseignements):
| 2023 – … | Teaching at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Introduction to psycholinguistics (2h) |
| 2021 – … | « Introduction à la psycholinguistique » (1h) as part of the PSL week « Audition : du gène à la perception« |
| 2019 – … | Teaching at Le Mans Université: Perception et psychoacoustique (level: M2) |
| 2018 – 2019 | Teacher assistant in charge of lab tutorials in UCL: Speech production and perception |
| 2012 – 2015 | Teacher assistant in charge of tutorials in Polytech Lyon: C++ programming, statistics, bibliographic research, and speech processing |
Grants & fundings:
| 2012 – 2015 | NSCo Doctoral School, L. Varnet’s thesis scholarship “bourse de thèse du Ministère de la Recherche” |
| 2021 – 2023 | Agence Nationale de la Recherche, projet fast-ACI (172 800 €) |
| 2023 – 2025 | FRAL (Agence Nationale de la Recherche & Deutsche ForschungsGemeinschaft), projet DRhyaDS (300 128 €). Collab. Alessandro Tavano (Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics; Goethe University Frankfurt) |
| 2023 –… | Research partnership with Audika (2 000 €) |
Scientific events organization:
| 2022 | Organizing the 2nd AMT Workshop in Paris “Introduction to auditory modelling using the AMT toolbox” |
| 2019 | Organizing the 2-day European conference ARCHES in Paris |
| 2018 | Organizing the “Wikipedia project for Hearing sciences: Concepts of temporal envelope and temporal fine structure”, 2-day scientific workshop in Paris |
Scientific & research management commitments:
| 2023 – … | Correspondant égalité CNRS (EDI contact person) for the LSP |
| 2023 – … |
Correspondant communication for the LSP |
| 2021 – … | Member of the « Copilbox », the experimental platform steering committee from the DEC |
| 2021 – … | Member of the « Sélection Internationale Scientifique » jury at ENS-PSL |
| 2020 – … | Member of the Ethics committee from Université Paris Descartes |
Reviewer for international journals: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Plos One, Developmental Science, Ear and Hearing, Frontiers in Psychology
Outreaching activities and science popularization :
| Personal science popularization blog De Bouche À Oreille (https://dbao.leo-varnet.fr/) and publication of articles on various institutional websites (CNRS, ENS, DEC) |
| Active contributor to the English and French Wikipedia |
| 2023 | Collaboration with Ça Fait Science to produce a video for “Qrieux, la série” |
| 2023 | Participation in the radio programs Avec Science (France Culture) « Écriture inclusive : le point médian supprime les biais de genre » and Saúde em dia (RFI) « A linguagem neutra pode ajudar na luta contra a percepção de gênero? Veja o que diz a Ciência« |
| 2023 | Articles in Science et Avenir « Ecriture inclusive : ce qu’en dit la science » and in Marie-Claire « L’écriture inclusive permet au cerveau de n’exclure aucun genre, confirme une étude« |
| 2023 | Collaboration with students from the graphic arts school EPSAA to produce drawings representing in a simple way the scientific work of the LSP. |
| 2023, 2022 | Interventions in secondary schools “Rencontre avec un chercheur en neurosciences” with Association Cerveau en Seine of which I am a member |
| 2022 | Guest on the radio program Gestalt “Perception, audition et création” |
| 2022, 2020 | General public lectures at ENS Paris for the “Semaine du Cerveau” and the “Fête de la science” |
| 2021, 2020, 2019 | General public lectures for the “Journée Nationale de l’Audition”, “Semaine de la santé auditive au travail” and Enseignement Post-Universitaire en Audioprothèse” |
| 2021, 2018 |
General public lectures at ENS Paris for the “Semaine du Cerveau” and the “Fête de la science” |
| 2020, 2015 | Organizing Pint of Science in Lyon and in Paris |
| 2017 | Expertise for the TV show E=m6 “Crissement de craie, bruit de mastication : pourquoi certains bruits nous sont-ils insupportables ?” |
| 2013-2015 | Organizing general public debates about Neuroscience and Ethics “les saisons du CRNL” in Lyon |
Publications: see here