Press and Media

Manufacturers must be able to respond immediately to faults in machinery and equipment, so as to avoid downtime. An acoustic monitoring system by the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg recognizes based on noises whether production parameters are within the set limit values. AI-based techniques help manufacturers draw conclusions about the machine condition and optimize production control.

Currently the employees of the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg are only reachable by phone with restrictions. (Increased use of home offices as an action within the context of "COVID-19")

Dear business partners, dear friends of Fraunhofer IDMT Our employees are our most important and highly valued asset. Therefore, we do everything to protect them from a possible infection with the coronavirus. For this reason, we have taken an extensive number of protective steps at Fraunhofer IDMT.

Most people find it difficult to concentrate on a specific voice in a busy environment, but for those who are hard of hearing it’s especially challenging. Now, however, a new type of hearing aid, developed with the assistance of Fraunhofer researchers, is designed to render speech more intelligible against a background of noise, thereby making it easier to follow a single speaker.

From 2-4 March 2020, the Division Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg will be at Call Center World (CCW) in Berlin and demonstrate how telephone workstations can be made more efficient and pleasant through intelligent solutions. On IDMT’s stand (C11, Hall 2), CCW visitors can find out about personal hearing systems that dynamically adapt the sound of telephone calls to personal preferences. The institute’s experts will also show the added value of their automatic speech recognition technology for telephone workstations.

Modern cars already feature a range of sophisticated systems such as remote-controlled parking, automatic lane-departure warning and drowsiness recognition. In the future, self-driving cars will also have auditory capabilities. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg, Germany, have now developed a prototype system capable of recognizing external noises such as sirens.

At the IFA 2018 in Berlin Telekom presented its smart speaker. Via the »Hello Magenta« wake-up call, the voice assistant enables the user to access basic functions, such as Google services, as well as control Telekom’s smart home application and the television. It can also be connected directly to the landline and used as a telephone. It is also possible to use Alexa alongside Telekom’s own voice service. The audio technology for the device was developed by the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg. Interview with Jan Wellmann, Head of Audio System Technology.

That sound preferences differ from person to person is a factor not to be underestimated in the design of multimedia solutions. The Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology Division (HSA) in Oldenburg is taking this into account and transporting its algorithms into the living room. Dr. rer. nat. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, Head of Group »Personalized Hearing Systems« explains why the goal of »Better Hearing for Everyone« is an important principle in many respects.

The interpretation of signals emitted by the human brain is a challenge. The »Mobile Neurotechnologies« group at the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has picked up the gauntlet and wants to make electroencephalography (EEG) systems available for concrete application scenarios – for example in medicine or safety-critical workplaces. The group led by Dr.-Ing. Insa Wolf is working in particular on mobile EEG systems suitable for everyday use in the analysis of brain activity.

The widespread availability and easy handling of small and large quadcopters, hexacopters and other aircraft are opening up many new fields of application for this technology – but also leading to threatening scenarios. Being able to react appropriately requires ways to detect and localize potential sources of danger. Christian Rollwage, Head of »Audio Signal Enhancement«, explains where the challenges in drone detection lie. The processing and enhancement of speech and audio signals are among the core competencies of the Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology Division. These include the optimization of disturbed audio signals as well as the development of recording and processing technologies that make it possible to use audiological data for acoustic sensors even if ambient conditions are exacting, such as when there is considerable environmental noise. Apart from improving audio and speech signals, the localization of noise sources and automatic speech recognition constitute an important part of the research work conducted at the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg.

As a component of industrial conveyor and drive systems, axial piston pumps are in widespread use. An unforeseen breakdown in this equipment means high costs. That is why researchers at the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg have selected the axial piston pump as a case example for the acoustic monitoring of machines. With the aim of preventing costly consequential damage, the experts in the Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology Division (HSA) are able to recognize when the pump is no longer running from the noise it makes. Acoustic event monitoring can also be used as part of remote maintenance and control. In this way and similar to a modern aircraft engine, pump performance can be marketed as a service. Interview with Danilo Hollosi, Head of Group »Acoustic Event Detection«.

Corporate documentation is an important task, but it uses up valuable time. Against this background, contact-free speech recognizers from the Fraunhofer IDMT can offer real added value for industrial customers – especially in noisy or sterile environments. Interview with Dr.-Ing. Stefan Götze, Head of »Automatic Speech Recognition«, on the advantages of speech recognition systems.

Prof. Joachim Bös was named the new Executive Director of the Fraunhofer IDMT in Ilmenau, Germany, on October 1, 2019, taking over from Prof. Udo Bechtloff, who had served as the institute’s acting director since February 2018 and will be leaving on October 31, 2019. In addition to managing the institute, Joachim Bös will also be in charge of setting up the research group “Industrial Applications of Media Technologies” at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Technische Universität Ilmenau in Ilmenau, Germany, as a newly appointed professor. He previously worked at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany, as Academic Director and deputy head of the research group System Reliability, Adaptive Structures, and Machine Acoustics SAM.

Personalized radio or TV content? In order to achieve this, it is important to find out the particular wishes of the respective user. An innovative tool can combine the advantages of the existing approaches.

Whether it is about operating an intelligent media archive, providing real-time subtitles for TV shows or analyzing entire radio or TV programs,– with the help of artificial intelligence, media content can be systematically analyzed. This not just facilitates daily routines of media professionals, but also allows offering personalized content to media consumers – and doing so in a privacy-preserving manner. At IBC 2019, taking place on September 13 – 17 in Amsterdam, Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS and Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be presenting various tools for content analysis at Fraunhofer’s booth B80 in hall 8.

The Telekom Smart Speaker will officially be available at IFA 2019. The audio system technology and parts of the speech recognition system come from the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology in Oldenburg.

The Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology Division (HSA) of the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg is developing algorithms for hearing profiles which adjust themselves automatically and dynamically to the acoustic input signal: An easy way to personalized sound and good speech intelligibility for wearers of hearing aids, headphones and hearables. Humantechnik GmbH in Weil am Rhein is currently using this technology in under-chin headphones for home applications.

Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth has been awarded a grant from the “Klaus Tschira Boost Fund” for his outstanding research. He is working on the development of personalized hearing systems for improved speech communication at the Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology Division (HSA) of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg. Together with the German Scholars Organization e.V., the Klaus Tschira Foundation provides support for the next generation of academics. Fraunhofer IDMT-HSA is a partner in the »Hearing4all« Cluster of Excellence.

Fraunhofer IDMT is saying goodbye to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg, director of the institute, who after almost twenty years with Fraunhofer IDMT officially left the institute on June 30th, shortly after his 65th birthday.

From June 25th to 27th 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau will be presenting a new solution for acoustic quality inspection allowing contact-free, non-destructive testing of manufactured parts and components. The method which has reached Technology Readiness Level 6 already, is currently being successfully tested in practical use together with a number of industrial partners.

hub.berlin, the "Business Festival" of the Bitkom digital association will take place in Berlin from 10 to 11 April. More than 5,000 leading international heads of digitization from the fields of IT, telecommunications and new media will meet in Berlin to shape the future and create trends. In addition to the varied programme with keynotes, lectures and workshops, there will also be various exhibition and tech-touch areas. The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT presents its project results on the acoustically advanced virtualization of products and production processes (AVP3) at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft booth in the "Interactive Area".

Deepfakes are manipulations of audio-visual material that are realistic enough to be undetectable by humans. In order to reveal them, automatic analysis methods are needed, which can detect very subtle traces of modifications with the respective material. At the NAB Show, which takes place in Las Vegas from April 8 to 11, 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will present its audio forensics toolkit for reliably detecting and localizing editing in audio material.

At Hannover Messe, taking place April 1st to 5th, the Oldenburg based branch of Fraunhofer IDMT will be presenting the latest version of its intelligent system for acoustic condition monitoring (Hall 2, Booth C22). The experts from the Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology (HSA) division of Fraunhofer IDMT have developed a solution that uses smart acoustic sensors to monitor the condition of an industrial machine by analyzing the sound it produces. This allows detecting malfunction at a very early stage, so that machine downtime can be reduced to a minimum.

From April 1st to 5th, the Oldenburg based branch of Fraunhofer IDMT will be attending Hannover Messe to present a speech-to-text process documentation system to be used in industrial settings (Hall 2, Booth C22). The system allows users to efficiently capture various kinds of information with the help of automatic speech recognition, leading to significant time and cost savings. It uses intelligent speech-to-text technology to provide a convenient, hands-free user interface, which works reliably also in noisy and rough environments, and which does not have to have access to a server or the Internet.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT are presenting the first battery-powered version of an in-ear headphone with MEMS loudspeaker technology at the 45th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Acoustics (DAGA) in Rostock from 18 to 21 March. Thanks to this research success, the headphones are now ready for mobile use.

From 19 - 21 February 2019 Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg will present communication solutions for better speech intelligibility and automatic speech recognition in telephony at Call Center World (CCW) in Berlin (Stand C11, Hall 2) with real added value for customers and staff.

At the International Broadcasting Convention IBC on September 15 – 19, 2018 in Amsterdam, Fraunhofer IDMT will be presenting a further updated set of its A/V analysis and media management tools. Updates include more robust fingerprinting-based technology that is now capable to detect occurrences and reuse of audio segments within a mix.

With their audio design of Deutsche Telekom’s smart speaker, audio experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg have succeeded in creating a superb sound in a small space. A film is now available that provides an insight into the product’s development, how it works and all the things it can do. It covers the whole process from initial idea to the design phase and the partners’ collaboration to the realization of acoustic end-of-line testing in production.

Intelligent robots with sensor guidance for shipbuilding, use of radar to locate shipwreck survivors, automatic speech recognition – these are just some of the developments that Fraunhofer researchers will be presenting on the joint Fraunhofer stand (No. 319, Hall B6) at SMM 2018. Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg will be showing a dialogue-oriented training tool for safe communication at sea.

The Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has developed the audio technology for Deutsche Telekom’s smart speaker. At the heart of the work is the optimized interaction of speakers and microphones for voice control even in a noisy environment. What’s more, the experts have achieved particularly good acoustics for telephony and music playback in a small enclosure. The product will be launched on 31.08.2018 at IFA in Berlin, the trade exhibition for consumer electronics and home appliances.