Press and Media

At the Virtual XR Expo on June 25 and 26, 2020, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT presents "VIPRA", a tool that for the first time makes the sound of virtual products audible in a realistic spatial environment. The benefit: with VIPRA, the acoustics of new products and components can be experienced authentically during the virtual engineering phase. Already in the early phases of virtual prototyping, the acoustic properties and their effect can be assessed continuously and changes in material and design are possible. The Virtual XR Expo is a trade fair for virtual, augmented and mixed reality, which will be digital this year due to coronavirus.

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.