International Sound Awards 2025 Jury

Audrey Arbeeny - Audiobrain

Audrey Arbeeny is CEO/ Executive Producer of Audiobrain, founded in 2003. Audiobrain’s sonic branding includes Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Google, Holland America Line, IBM, KIA Motors Corp, Microsoft, Merck, Logitech, Whirlpool, Toshiba, and more. She also has significant background in psychology, biomusicology, and psychoacoustics, and conducts research in these areas. Projects range from Heart/Health wearables to surgical robotics. She has been Music Supervisor for the past 11 Olympic Broadcasts with NBC, for which she received 2 Emmy Awards. With over 25 years specializing in sonic branding, Audiobrain is at the forefront of emerging technologies, and their sonic imprints are heard millions of times a day worldwide, and has appeared in many publications, podcasts on the use of intentional music sound and voice.

Monica Bolles - Resonant Interactions

Monica Bolles has been working with spatial audio since 2011, when she first gained access to her local planetarium's 15.1 channel surround system. Since then, she has developed custom toolsets in Max MSP and explored emerging technologies to craft textured soundscapes that explore space, movement, and interaction. As both a technician and artist, she collaborates with artists and composers to bring their work into immersive spatial environments, while also producing her own large-scale multichannel installations, exhibited on systems ranging from 8 to 140 channels. Monica co-hosts the Immersive Audio Podcast and contributes to organizing Spatial Audio Meetups through NOTAM. She frequently curates, moderates, and presents workshops and panels on spatial audio. Monica currently owns and operates Resonant Interactions, a company specializing in immersive experience design and immersive music production.

Karlheinz Brandenburg - Brandenburg Labs GmbH

Karlheinz Brandenburg has been a driving force behind some of today’s most innovative digital audio technology, notably the mp3 and MPEG audio standards. He is acclaimed for pioneering work in digital audio coding and psychoacoustics. His honors include the AES Silver Medal, the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronic Award, the German Future Award, which he shared with his colleagues and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Furthermore he is member in the Hall of Fame of the Consumer Electronics Association. In April 2014, Brandenburg was inducted as an innovator into the Internet Hall of Fame. He holds three honorary Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Brandenburg holds about 100 patents. He is CEO of the Brandenburg Labs GmbH, a senior professor at the Institute for Media Technology at Technische Universität Ilmenau and former director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau, Germany.

Henry Daw - Google

Henry has created user experience sound for over two decades, whilst being at the forefront of defining our future soundscapes and developing thinking around sound in UX. He has created interaction sounds and notifications for billions of devices worldwide, whilst developing some of the most brand-recognisable sounds in the world. He previously worked for 13 years at Nokia and Microsoft, before setting up his own consultancy and working on a range of tech products from smart glasses, navigational aids for the visually-impaired, smart door locks, and hospital alarms and patient-monitoring alarms. Henry recently moved back in-house and now works as a Senior UX Sound Designer for Google.

Cicely Delaney - Sonicbrand

Cicely is the ECD of a world-leading sonic branding agency, Sonicbrand. A classically trained pianist, DJ and expert music supervisor, Cicely has a wealth of experience in the development and production of sonic branding and composition for global brands such as Shell, Nestle, Lucozade, MARS, PepsiCo and Marantz.

Klaus Frieler - Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics

Klaus Frieler is a Systematic Musicologist with a background in Physics. He is currently a statistical and methodological consultant of Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt a.M. Germany, after years of working on research projects in computational musicology and music psychology as well as teaching systematic musicology at the University of Hamburg and elsewhere. Since many years, he is involved with the Audio Branding industry as a scientific advisor. He is also working as music expert witness, with a speciality in pre-emptive copyright checks for audio branding using state-of-the-art computational tools he created and helped developing.

Vanessa Goh - Spotify

Vanessa Goh started out as a copywriter in Singapore before her pursuit of new experiences took her to the advertising agencies of Chicago, and then to the digital playground of the Bay Area. She learnt from the best minds at agencies like DDB, BBDO, Ogilvy, and DigitasLBi, before joining Pandora SiriusXM as a Creative Director at Studio Resonate. She’s been involved in audio advertising and sonic branding for almost two decades and is currently the Creative Strategist Lead for JAPAC at Spotify Advertising.

Tapio Hakanen - DJ Orkidea

Tapio Hakanen is a 47-year-old music industry professional from Helsinki with a lifelong passion for sound. With a 30-year career as a sound designer and DJ Orkidea, he has performed over 2,000 gigs in 30 countries, opening for artists like Tiësto and Rihanna. He has worked in clubs, radio, events, indie and major labels, always focusing on introducing new music, following trends, and shaping identity through sound. Hakanen has led teams at Nokia and Microsoft, with focus in strategy, leadership, and content creation. Currently Tapio is head of music at Finnish National Radio. As a sound designer, his past clients include Björn Borg, Disney, London Science Museum and Range Rover. His work has reached two billion mobile devices, and he has designed soundscapes for virtual worlds and major events. Voted Finland’s Best DJ seven times, he has earned multiple #1 chart positions and industry awards. Above all, he takes the greatest pride in being a father of four.

Simon Heeger - 2WEI

Simon Heeger is co-founder and managing partner of 2WEI, a cinematic music artist and music production house based in Hamburg & Berlin, Germany and Venice Beach, California. He, along with Christian Vorländer, established the company in 2016, bringing their combined skills from the advertising and film music industry. Since then, they have created music for over 700 ad campaigns, more than 150 game trailers and 300 sync placements. Their music has been streamed hundreds of millions of times on Spotify & Apple Music, and with +530k YouTube subscribers, they are one of the most successful epic music artists worldwide.

Chris Hegstrom -

Chris has been creating audio for interactive media for over 25 years. After studying Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music, he began his career in live sound for Blue Man Group. He then moved into web audio which led to over a decade of designing sound for video games, including franchises such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Burnout Paradise, God of War III and Kinect Adventures. In 2012, he made the transition into product sound with Microsoft HoloLens. At HoloLens, he designed UX sound, sonic branding, and 3D audio. After Microsoft, Chris formed Symmetry Audio where he designed VR audio for Unity, HBO, and Technicolor, as well as UX sound for Google. In 2017, he joined Amazon as Senior UX Sound Designer, where he worked on the audio identity of Alexa, Fire TV, and the standalone gaming system Amazon Glow. Returning to the game audio in 2022, Chris was Audio Manager at Insomniac Games and is now Audio Director at an unannounced developer.

Rainer Hirt - audity

Studies in communication design at the University of Applied Sciences, Konstanz (Master of Arts). Co-Founder of audity, a company specialised in functional sounds for brands and products. Author and co-producer of the compendium »Audio Branding«. Rainer is supervising various research projects with several universities and has been, since 2008, juror of the international Red Dot Design Award. Lecturer for Audible Design at the HTWG Konstanz.

Daniel Hug - Zurich University of the Arts

Dr. Daniel Hug, sound and interaction designer, explores the world of sound through art, design, theoretical investigation and applied research. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Sound Design master’s program at Zurich University of the Arts, and an international lecturer in Sound Studies and Sound Design. With his practice-based and interdisciplinary research, Hug has had a significant impact on the field of sonic interaction design. As member of the steering committee of the Audio Mostly conference and founder of the sound design and consultancy company “Hear Me Interact!”, he connects the worlds of academia and business. His current interests include sound design for health technology and exercise, sound design methodology, and participatory sound design processes.

Jodi Krangle - Voice Actor

Jodi Krangle has been a full-time voice actor since 2007 and has worked with clients from major brands all over the world including Dell, Lindt & Kraft. Over the years, and doing what she does, she’s learned a lot about sound and how it influences people. In November of 2019, she created her award winning podcast on this subject called Audio Branding: The hidden gem of marketing and has produced almost 300 episodes. The podcast discusses the power of sound and how it influences us in the context of advertising, marketing, music and science. She also regularly moderates audio chats in various locations with topics that explore the power of sound.

Amy Lilley - Musically

Amy Lilley, a native of South Africa, brings a wealth of experience to the music industry. Her career has seen her work with Platoon and Apple Music Publishing, and she initially made her mark by founding an inclusive queer live music venue in Cape Town, showcasing her dedication to fostering diverse musical communities. With a comprehensive understanding of the music business, Amy is well-versed in copyright, publishing, data analysis, and community management. Her knowledge and expertise make her an ideal partner for artists and their marketing teams who are looking to succeed in the modern music industry. Amy understands that building a strong and engaged fan community is crucial for an artist’s success. As an advocate for innovation and inclusion, she is committed to supporting artists and their teams in their quest for success.

Connor Moore - CMoore Sound

Connor Moore is a seasoned design leader focused in the audio ux and audio branding space. For the last 15 years, Connor has been able to work with some of the most forward thinking brands creating innovative sound solutions that drive functionality and build brand affinity. These clients span a range of industry and include the likes of Google, Lucid Motors, Peloton, Uber, Airbnb and State Farm to name a few. Connor founded CMoore Sound at a time when brands first began considering sound and music as a core part of their identity systems and quickly became one of the most trusted experts in developing branded audio ecosystems in the technology sector. He has been featured in the New Yorker, The Guardian, NPR’s Marketplace and Google’s Design Series for topics covering the role of sound for brands in advertising, product and experiential activations.

Abby North - North Music Group, Unchained Melody Publishing

Abby North is a highly respected music rights manager who has made significant contributions to the music industry. She is best known as one of the founders of Unchained Melody Publishing, and the principal of North Music Group, which provides music rights, music publishing and sound recording administration services. Abby North’s company, Music Data Services has developed CWR and rights management tools, and provides CWR conversion services to original publishers worldwide. Abby’s expertise in music rights management and metadata analytics has made her a sought-after speaker and consultant in the music industry. She is on SONA’s Advisory Board, is a member of Board of the Los Angeles chapter of the AIMP and is Vice Chair of IAFAR. Abby is a member of the CISAC SPF CWR Working Group, the ISNI Music Consultation Group and ICMP’s Metadata Working Group. In 2022, AIMP Los Angeles named North Music Group Independent Music Publisher of the Year.

Rajeev Raja - BrandMusiq

Creator of the concept of MOGO® or ‘musical logo’, Rajeev Raja conceived BrandMusiq as a full servicesonic branding company in 2011. Rajeev brings on board over 25 years of experience in branding on the one hand, and music on the other. He was ex-National Creative Director of the multinational ad agency DDB in India and is also known as one of India’s finest Jazz and Fusion flautists. This unique combination helps BrandMusiq merge brand understanding, consumer insight and musical expression in a manner that delivers tremendous value for clients.

Emma Rodero - Pompeu Fabra University

Emma Rodero is a Full Professor of Media Psychology and Neurocommunication at Pompeu Fabra University (Spain), Ph.D. in Communication, Ph.D. in Psychology, Master in Pathology of Voice, and Master in Psychology of Cognition. She is the Director of the Media Psychology Lab (UPF), where she analyzes people’s physiological responses to understand how they perceive, process, and respond to different media messages, especially audio (radio, voice, audio branding, podcast…). She is the author of twelve books and eighty scientific papers about how people process voice and audio.

Takayuki Suzuki - ParadeALL

Takayuki Suzuki is CEO of ParadeALL, strategic EnterTech consultant based in Tokyo, Japan, bridging music and technology across Japan, US, EU and China. Aș entrepreneur, he leads MetaTokyo, multiverse entertainment studio for metaverse. In addition to this, he takes on various roles such as advisory board member of SXSW Pitch, Belgium MusicTech Accelerator, Director of JASRAC, Japanese major music copyright organization and etc. His career has included roles as Head of Mobile at MTV Japan and most recently Head of Digital Business Development for Universal Music Japan. He is also angel investor, guitarist and ramen lover.

Collette Tibbetts - Joker Deck

Collette is the co-founder of Joker Deck, a platform that allows startups to submit their decks to investors in a minute or less. Whilst completing her economics degree at UC Berkeley, Collette worked in business development on the Global Digital Strategy team at Universal Music Group; consulted for Island Records and Sony Music Nashville; and spearheaded web 3.0 projects in executive roles in the creation of NFTs, ERC-20 tokens, and DAOs. In her free time, she consults early stage companies and produces out of a studio in Oakland, California.

Dani Valkova - Reaktor Berlin

Dani is a leader in sound innovation across games, AR, VR, AI, and immersive media. With a decade of experience directing audio for over 60+ global projects, Dani collaborates with industry leaders like Google, Meta, Apple, and Netflix to push the boundaries of interactive sound design and storytelling. Specializing in psychoacoustics and the psychology of sound, Dani explores how emerging tech transforms user experiences, shapes human connection, and drives cultural impact. A recognized futurist, Dani lectures at NYU, mentors music-tech startups, and advises on AI ethics as Advisory Board Member for Coders Beyond Borders. Focused on building scalable ventures at the intersection of sound, gamification, and next-gen sensory design, Dani is passionate about shaping the future of audio and its impact on how we live, work, and play.

Hugo Verweij - Apple

Hugo Verweij leads sound design efforts on Apple’s Design Team. His work can be heard across a number of Apple platforms. Hugo has a deep appreciation for functional sound design that helps, guides, and delights the user – whether it’s through a notification sound or a subtle button click. Prior to joining Apple, Hugo taught sound design and music production at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht in the Netherlands. Underwhelmed by ringtones available at the time, Hugo launched Cleartones – a marketplace for unobtrusive, minimalist ringtones. Apple caught wind of Hugo’s project and hired him to work on sounds for iOS 7. Hugo’s talk Designing Sound at the World Wide Developers Conference gives a peek behind the curtain of the design process of Apple’s iconic sounds that can be heard all around the world.