The researcher from the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering, AC3E, Juan Pablo Cortes, was awarded the Fondecyt Initiation 2025 grant, a fund that seeks to promote and strengthen the development of research by supporting new researchers.

Dr. Cortes, who is part of the Center’s Biomedical Systems line, obtained this funding thanks to his project “Ambulatory biofeedback using physiological-relevant features and motor learning principles,” which seeks to develop an ambulatory voice monitoring system using biofeedback, or feedback, so that the user can correct vocal behaviors based on physiologically relevant parameters obtained for a “correct” vocal function. The parameters and regions of interest that will be measured in real-time are obtained from previous research on voice motor control, where almost instantaneous auditory perturbations of vocal amplitude and frequency generate compensations.

“The proposal in this FONDECYT is to extend these findings to an ambulatory setting, where users can have normal conversations for hours and thus investigate the effect of learning and compensation in real environments. The idea is to establish a framework of indicators for the use of vocal biofeedback, and thus support therapies for populations with pathologies associated with the voice, such as patients with vocal hyperfunction,” the researcher highlighted.

The awarding of this fund is a recognition of the work that Dr. Cortes has carried out from ideas that have emerged from research at the Center in collaboration with institutions such as Harvard Medical School and Boston University, and a great motivation, at an early stage of his scientific career, to continue carrying out multidisciplinary work involving electronic engineering, medicine, and neuroscience.

“This Fondecyt Initiation is an excellent opportunity to start developing projects with an impact on society and thus highlight the contribution of science. The funds granted allow young scientists to have the experience of implementing high-level research, and at the same time are a bridge to later be able to apply for other ANID funds with greater confidence and experience,” he concluded.

This award adds to the other 18 new initiatives that allowed the Federico Santa María Technical University to obtain, for the second consecutive year, the first national place in Fondecyt Initiation 2025 awards in engineering areas.