Summary
Posted: May 28, 2026
Role Number:200665688
Apple's Hardware group is home to some of the world's most advanced technologies - powering the experiences that define Apple products.
Description
We are looking for a highly skilled Senior Audio — Voice Processing & Environmental Test Engineer to join our team in Herzliya.
Responsibilities
- Test and validate the performance and tuning of core voice processing blocks
- Execute validation under diverse acoustic conditions, speaker configurations, and signal scenarios
- Collaborate with algorithm teams to provide data-driven feedback for tuning and optimization
- Conduct objective voice quality assessments using standardized metrics, including POLQA (ITU-T P.863) and PESQ (ITU-T P.862)
- Organize and manage subjective "golden ear" listening panels to assess voice naturalness, intelligibility, and overall quality
- Define evaluation criteria and scoring methodologies aligned with industry standards and internal quality benchmarks
- Design and execute WER-based testing for scenarios involving voice transcription and speech recognition
- Correlate WER results with upstream audio processing quality to identify degradation sources
- Conduct testing in specialized laboratories that replicate real-world acoustic scenarios, including: Moving vehicles ,Noisy public environments — cafés, restaurants, crowded spacesWindy outdoor settings and Combined environmental stressors
- Measure and track Time to First Word (TTFW) and round-trip audio latency
- Establish performance baselines and monitoring frameworks for continuous tracking across firmware and software iterations
- Design and maintain automated test suites to detect audio artifacts — including glitches, pops, clicks, distortions, and dropouts
- Build regression frameworks that validate audio quality across new firmware and software updates
Minimum Qualifications
- BSc in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Acoustics, Audio Engineering, or a related field
- 7+ years of experience in audio testing, voice quality evaluation, or acoustic system validation
- Proven experience working within or alongside professional audio/acoustic test laboratories
- Demonstrated ability to design repeatable, controlled test environments and methodologies
- Experience with both objective measurement tools and subjective listening evaluation protocols
- Strong system-level understanding with the ability to isolate quality issues to specific processing stages
- Deep understanding of audio signal processing fundamentals — frequency domain analysis, filtering, spectral characteristics, and time-domain behavior
- Hands-on experience with voice quality measurement tools and standards (POLQA, PESQ, 3QUEST, ETSI standards)
- Familiarity with HEAD acoustic test equipment — measurement microphones, artificial heads (HATS), mouth simulators, and anechoic/semi-anechoic chamber setups
- Strong proficiency in Python for test automation, data analysis, audio signal processing, and framework development
- Experience with audio acquisition systems, DACs/ADCs, and real-time audio streaming architectures
- Understanding of latency measurement methodologies in real-time audio systems
Preferred Qualifications
- MSc in Acoustics, Audio Signal Processing, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline — considered a significant advantage
- Experience with speech recognition systems and WER evaluation methodologies
- Background in psychoacoustics or subjective audio evaluation research
- Experience with environmental simulation lab design and commissioning
- Knowledge of ITU-T P-series recommendations and ETSI test specifications
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