What is B-ELP?

The Balanced Expert Listening Panel (B-ELP) is a research project of the Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), and will start in 2026.

The B-ELP consists of 20 female and 20 male music students and electrical engineering sound engineering students from KUG. They undergo a training program in analytical listening, and then participate as test subjects in a series of current listening experiments conducted by the IEM.

The BELP project thus both promotes better representation in basic research in psychoacoustics and systematically investigates differences in auditory perception between women and men. In addition, the test subjects acquire skills in critical and analytical listening.

The project is funded by KUG, the Mariann Steegmann Foundation, and the City of Graz.