The interdisciplinary trade fair for building, living and health against the background of demographic change will take place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on 29 and 30 April 2015 together with the »8th AAL Congress« of the German Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (VDE). At the joint stand of the Fraunhofer-Allianz Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), the Project Group for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology of the Fraunhofer IDMT will present current research projects and product developments in cooperation with the companies Beeware GmbH, ILPER-Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG, Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Sennheiser Streaming Technologies GmbH, Snom Technology AG and Targis GmbH.

Better hearing for everyone – at home, at work and at public events
Product solutions that enhance the hearing comprehension in everyday life of people with hearing loss will be presented by the Fraunhofer IDMT together with the audio specialist Sennheiser and the telephone manufacturer Snom.

With its model RS195, Sennheiser will present wireless headphones that allow users to adapt the audio signal to their personal hearing needs. Sennheiser Streaming Technologies will demonstrate a system that allows visitors to public events to receive and optimize the live sound via their iPhone.

When using the telephone, speech intelligibility can be a problem for both persons with normal hearing as well as for those suffering from hearing loss – particularly during calls on a cell phone and under conditions with background noise. In the "INDIFON" research project, the scientists at the Fraunhofer IDMT are working together with the company Snom Technology AG to develop methods that optimally adapt the speech intelligibility of the telephone signal to both the hearing of the individual user and the current ambient situation.

Acoustic speech and emergency recognition
Audio signal processing methods allow computer-based recognition of other acoustic events in addition to speech recognition. Based on these recognizer technologies, solutions are being developed at the Fraunhofer IDMT for applications ranging from speech recognition systems to make work easier through to systems that are able to detect safety-critical care situations.

As part of the "KANTATE" research project, the Oldenburg-based IT company Targis will present technologies that provide cognitive assistance to call and service center employees. Using the recognizer technologies developed at the Fraunhofer IDMT, incoming customer calls are analyzed for defined key words so that relevant information can be automatically retrieved from the product database and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

With its product "SonicSentinel", the light call system manufacturer Ilper-Elektronik will exhibit a sound monitor for care facilities that can detect and automatically forward acoustic events such as coughing or cries for help.

In the research project "MOBECS" (Mobility and Emergency Call System), methods for automatic event and emergency recognition are combined with familiar functions such as GPS position determination and navigation aids to offer assistance at their current location to older people or persons with impaired health. The project partner Beeware GmbH will show how the system recognizes emergency situations by analyzing and comparing various sensor data and then automatically alerts a care provider via a web-based service platform.

Visit us at the joint stand of Fraunhofer-Allianz AAL in the Kap Europa Congress Center, Level 2, C03 - C09.