Company News
New West Coast Sales Applications Engineer: Anastassia Tolpygo
Anastassia Tolpygo has joined Listen, Inc. as West Coast Sales Applications Engineer, based in the San Francisco Bay area and will be the main point of contact for our customers in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. She has a strong background in vibration and FFT analysis, having supported sales and applications for Crystal Instruments the past 5 years. Prior to that she held positions encompassing sales, technical support and QA in a variety of high-tech companies, including Plantronics and Sena. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from UCSC. This expertise in mechanics and acoustics, combined with sales and applications experience enables her to truly understand and appreciate customer needs. Anastassia happens to be fluent in Russian and is keenly passionate about audio. Outside of work, she practices various types of dance, critiques music online and enjoys time with family.
Seminar at Sound Hub
Today, Steve Temme presented on how to measure voice activated devices such as smart speakers, hearables and automotive audio, as well as how to use SoundCheck for basic audio measurements at Sound Hub Denmark, the world’s leading audio innovation hub and co-working space.In the morning, he presented the basics of SoundCheck, and taught attendees (many of whom had access to the SoundCheck system at Sound Hub) how to build a test sequence in SoundCheck. recommendations for the equipment used. After lunch, he explained in depth how to test voice activated devices such as automotive infotainment systems, hearables, and smart speakers. These devices are complex to test as they have numerous wired and wireless connections and often contain signal processing, both on the record and the playback side. In this session, he outlined the test configurations, tools and techniques that enable accurate measurement of the audio performance of such devices under the many various real-world conditions in which they are used.
New Support Engineer – Devin Vaillancourt
Devin Vaillancourt has joined the technical support team at Listen, where he will be working closely with Steve, Mark L, Cam and Mark D to help our customers with their audio measurements. Devin graduated from UMass Lowell in 2016 with a degree in sound recording technology. Prior to joining Listen, he worked as an audio technician for a production services company where he gained extensive knowledge of using, calibrating and troubleshooting audio interfaces, and other recording hardware and software. In addition to his technical experience, Devin is a keen musician – outside of work, he plays in several bands, records and engineers music, and teaches drums.
New Manufacturing Manager: Ryan Burgess
Ryan Burgess has joined Listen as Manufacturing Manager, responsible for all manufacturing functions including supply chain, assembly, test, Quality Control, and product delivery. Ryan is an experienced manufacturing professional with 20 years’ experience in Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Quality Control Systems. He attended Clark University focusing on Computer Science, minoring in Mechanical Engineering, and also holds several certifications including a Six Sigma Green Belt, certified internal auditor and LEAN Bronze certificate. Prior to joining Listen, Ryan has held management roles in the mass notification industry, aerospace industry, industrial technology, and a global technology solutions company. In his free time Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife and six children, music, sports, and home improvement.
New Sales Director: Joe Kushi
Joe Kushi has joined Listen as Sales Director. Joe is an experienced international sales manager with over 25 years’ experience in both domestic and international sales and sales management. He also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business, languages and international business. In prior positions, he has sold a variety of hi-tech products including data acquisition and imaging systems, audio and video QA equipment, telecoms and security infrastructure equipment. He speaks 5 languages (with varying degrees of fluency), has lived in Paris and Brussels, and has opened offices and managed reps around the world. Outside of work, Joe enjoys traveling, listening to music, and playing drums.
New Order Processing Specialist: Rocky Ludger
Rock-Andral Ludger (Rocky) has joined Listen in the role of Order Processing Specialist. In this role, Rocky is responsible for every order from the moment it is placed, through fulfilment, to ensuring safe delivery of the product. He is also the smiling face at our front desk and keeps the office running smoothly. Rocky joins Listen with a degree in business from Kentucky University and several years’ supply chain management experience, both in the Boston area and in his native Haiti where he also used to play soccer professionally. He also speaks multiple languages fluently, including Spanish, French and Creole. Outside of work, Rocky is a keen athlete who enjoys playing and watching many different sports and, like most at Listen, also enjoys music. Rocky also founded and runs a non-profit organization in Haiti, New Vision for Youth, that coaches young professional leaders.
New DSP Engineer: Rahul Shakya
Listen welcomes on board our new DSP Engineer, Rahul Shakya. Rahul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Mathematics from Trinity College, Hartford, and an MSc and a PhD in Electrical Sciences and Computer Engineering from Brown University. Rahul brings strong Audio DSP skills to his role at Listen, with several years’ experience as a graduate and post-doctoral researcher at Brown University where he worked on a diverse range of and DSP, Speech and audio processing research topics.
New Support Engineer: Cam Ruffle-Deignan
Listen has expanded its support team with the addition of Cam Ruffle-Deignan. Cam has recently graduated with a BSME from the University of Vermont where he spent his time doing applied polymer research, playing intramural sports, and working in a student-run prototyping lab. He has a keen interest in audio products, having interned for Listen last summer, and looks forward to continue developing his audio test skills. Cam will assist Steve, Mark and Mark in providing front line support to our customers, as well as developing training materials, test sequences and support documentation. When he is not in the office, Cam enjoys going for canoe trips, hiking north-eastern mountain ranges, and tinkering with his 3D printer.
