PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Torbjørn Svendsen

Also known as Torbjørn Karl Svendsen, Torbjørn K. Svendsen, Torbjorn Svendsen

Torbjørn Svendsen is a speech-technology researcher at NTNU in Trondheim whose work moved from speech compression to automatic speech recognition. He began in speech signal processing in 1979, visited AT&T Bell Labs in 1986–1987 and 1990, became a professor in 1995, and led the VERDIKT-funded SIRKUS project from 2006 to 2011, which tested speech recognition built on production features shared by all languages. From 2015 to 2021 he directed NTNU Digital, and from 2015 to 2023 he served on the board of the International Speech Communication Association as a member, Vice President and Board Secretary. ISCA elected him a Fellow in 2024 for contributions to speech processing research and long-standing contributions to the speech community. He is an emeritus professor in NTNU's Department of Electronic Systems, and his recent research covers children's speech and dialectal speech.

Born
1955
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1979–1990

    Speech compression and Bell Labs

    In 1979, he begins research in speech signal processing at NTNU, first as a research assistant, with speech compression as the subject of his doctoral thesis. He is a research scientist at SINTEF from 1981 to 1987 and visits AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in 1986–1987 and 1990, as his main interest turns to automatic speech recognition from the mid-1980s.

  2. 1995

    Professor at NTNU

    He becomes an associate professor at NTNU in 1988 and a professor in 1995. His NTNU appointments also include Department Head of the Department of Telecommunications and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications.

  3. 2006–2011

    The SIRKUS speech project

    From 2006 to 2011, he leads SIRKUS, an NTNU project on spoken information retrieval funded by the Research Council of Norway's VERDIKT program. With colleagues, he tests a recognition approach based on the finding that human speech production is fundamentally the same across languages, so the technology could apply to any language without training data for each individual language.

  4. 2013

    Research visit to MIT CSAIL

    In 2013, he makes a research visit to the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

  5. 2015–2021

    Director of NTNU Digital

    He becomes director of NTNU Digital in 2015 and holds the post until 2021. In August 2019, when Telenor, NHH and NTNU announce a Digital Transformation Hub in Bergen, he says the AI Lab at NTNU and the new hub will strengthen each other.

  6. 2015–2023

    Officer on the ISCA board

    On the board of the International Speech Communication Association, he serves as a member from 2015 to 2017, Vice President from 2017 to 2021, and Board Secretary from 2021 to 2023.

  7. 2024

    Elected an ISCA Fellow

    ISCA elects him a Fellow in 2024, for contributions to speech processing research and long-standing contributions to the speech community. The title is conferred formally at Interspeech 2024.

  8. As of October 2026

    Emeritus professor at NTNU

    He is an emeritus professor at NTNU's Department of Electronic Systems. His recent research addresses recognition of children's speech and transcription of conversational, accented and dialectal speech, including a 2025 paper with Phoebe Parsons, Per Erik Solberg, Knut Kvale and Giampiero Salvi that adds speaker metadata to the Stortinget Speech Corpus of more than 5,000 hours of Norwegian speech.

Career

  1. Since 1979Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyResearch assistant, Associate professor
  2. 2013MIT CSAILResearch visitor
  3. 1986–1990Bell Labs
  4. 1981–1987SINTEFResearch scientist

Education

  1. From 1979Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyDoctoral study

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Norwegian University of Science and Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Norwegian University of Science and Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Torbjørn Karl Svendsen - NTNU ntnu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Skal gjenkjenne alle språk | Tu.no tu.no. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Computer program recognises any language partner.sciencenorway.no. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Telenor, NHH and NTNU to establish a new knowledge powerhouse to fuel growth and develop new industries - Telenor Group telenor.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. ISCA - ISCA Fellows 2024 isca-speech.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Adding Metadata to Existing Parliamentary Speech Corpus - ACL Anthology aclanthology.org. Checked 20 October 2026.