Press and Media

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.

On May 11 this year, “Mein Schiff 1”, the seventh and most technically advanced cruise ship of the TUI Cruises fleet, was christened and launched in the port of Hamburg. ”Mein Schiff 1” stands for a new generation of ships operated by Hamburg based cruise company TUI Cruises. For the first time ever, a cruise ship features SpatialSound Wave, the 3D sound system developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT.

For ten years now, the Branch Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA at the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has been a competent partner for businesses and public bodies in the development of pioneering technologies. On 28 August 2018, it will be celebrating its 10th anniversary at the House of Hearing in Oldenburg. Invited to attend are leading figures from business, science and politics, clients, friends and staff.

In the citizen science project »Hear How You Like To Hear!«, people with and without hearing impairments are designing new types of intelligent hearing aids, what are known as hearables, together with researchers from the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg. Their involvement ranges from user tests to the programming of algorithms for personal hearing preferences. Invitation to the hackathon at Fab Lab Berlin from 29.06. to 01.07.2018.

Since spring 2018 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Bechloff and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Brandenburg have been the directors of the Fraunhofer IDMT.

On April 23-27, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be demonstrating a method for acoustic condition monitoring and quality assurance (Fraunhofer Booth C22, Hall 2). The method allows continuous monitoring of industrial production lines as well as product quality control. It thereby helps reduce machine downtime and scrap.

At the Hannover Messe from April 23 – 27, 2018, Fraunhofer IDMT will demonstrate the prototype of a new cognitive system for the predictive maintenance of production facilities (Hall 2, Booth C22). Intelligent battery-powered acoustic sensors process audio signals from machines and systems on the spot. From the information that is forwarded wirelessly to an evaluation unit, it is possible to draw conclusions about the condition of the production facilities and to avoid possible damage. Industrial customers benefit from a cost-effective, scalable and data-secure Industrie 4.0 solution that minimizes downtime.

The German Fraunhofer Institutes for Digital Media Technology IDMT and Silicon Technology ISIT caused a stir at the Jahrestagung für Akustik DAGA (the annual conference of the German society for acoustics) in Munich from March 19 to 22, 2018. They presented the first integrated MEMS-based micro speakers to industry representatives and experts. The MEMS speakers will be used in future mobile communication devices, headphones, and hearing aids. With an area of just 4x4 millimeters, they cover the complete frequency range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz as a one-way system and achieve a sound pressure level of 110 dB for in-ear applications.

Attending the South by Southwest® Conference and Festivals in Austin, Texas from March 11-14, the Fraunhofer experts from Ilmenau (Germany) will be joined by representatives from MediaApes and Aspekteins, two German creative agencies in the vanguard of 360° immersive VR and AR worlds. The collaboration is part of the German delegation attending this year’s SXSW®, comprising about 1,000 creative people from both start-up companies and renowned enterprises.

Under the banner »Comfort in Understanding«, the Project Group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology of the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg will be presenting solutions for better speech intelligibility and a speech-to-text application for telephone systems at Call Center World 2018.