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.