Press Releases

Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has developed an intelligent sensor solution that detects drones even outside the line of sight. The acoustic detection technology can be combined with radar, camera, and lidar to form a complete system.

In film, television, streaming, or live productions, ensuring good speech intelligibility is one of the biggest challenges for professional sound engineers. Algorithms developed by Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg provide recommendations for action based on an objective analysis of listening effort in real time. With many years of close collaboration and research cooperation, RTW has now integrated these technologies into its hardware-based audio measurement platform.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will present its updated Content Verification Toolbox at International Broadcasting Convention IBC 2025, taking place from September 12 to 15 in Amsterdam. The Content Verification Toolbox is a suite of tools for detecting manipulation, synthesis, and decontextualization in audio and audio-visual material, while also supporting active content authentication. It offers explainable and continuously evolving methods, based on signal analysis and machine learning, and can be integrated into content verification workflows

The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be presenting a car that can hear at the IAA MOBILITY trade show in Munich. The researchers have developed a prototype that incorporates acoustic sensors into the vehicle technology, thereby enhancing safety and reliability on the road.

From 12 to 15 September 2025, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be showcasing its media intelligence solution InsightPersona at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam. InsightPersona combines face and speaker recognition with speech transcription to rapidly and reliably analyze vast audiovisual archives. Users gain a quick, comprehensive overview of who appeared when, where and on which topics — without the need for manual, time-consuming research.

Sleep problems can lead to serious health issues in the long term. Nevertheless, they often remain untreated. The BMG-funded "SchlafCheck" project spent around two years investigating how sleep medicine care could be improved through primary care. The use of a mobile sleep monitoring system was tested with around 60 test subjects and five general practices in and around Oldenburg. The Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg was responsible for the technical and practical implementation, including data analysis. The University Medicine Oldenburg contributed its medical expertise in areas such as study design and workshops with the participating practices.

For many years, we have relied on cameras, lidar, and radar to detect the environment around passenger cars. However, the perception of external sounds has been lacking, even regarding automated driving. That is why Fraunhofer IDMT-HSA is researching the integration of acoustic sensor technology in the KI4BoardNet project with The Hearing Car. The Oldenburg branch has now equipped research vehicles with new microphones and specially developed measurement technology. To test both, the team traveled to a test site in Sweden in spring together with project partner CARIAD SE.

Implemented as a plug-in, the “Listening Effort Meter" (LE-Meter) developed by Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg allows sound engineers to visualize listening effort during mixing and conduct post-mixing checks to optimize audio quality. The technology has once again found its way from scientific development into commercial application and is intended to bring about improvements in media production on a broad scale.

The exact causes of myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are not fully understood. The Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg wants to use its mobile EEG system for sleep monitoring in the home environment as part of the BMBF-funded research network “Sleep-Neuro-Path” to support the study of neurophysiological sleep characteristics in affected patients. Over the next three years, the project consortium will investigate biological mechanisms of the disease with the aim of helping to develop effective therapies. The project will be presented to the public on May 13, 2025, at the ME/CFS Symposium in Berlin. This presentation can be viewed free of charge via livestream.

A well-functioning voice is an essential prerequisite for teachers in their daily work. With VoiceTracker, the Fraunhofer IDMT is working on a solution that offers teachers preventive support for the health of their voice. The software analyzes voice quality in real time and detects potential voice problems at an early stage. Interested teachers and companies involved in preventive health care can find out more about VoiceTracker at the didacta education trade fair in Stuttgart from February 11 to 15, 2025.

The InsightPersona research tool takes media literacy in political education to the next level. The AI-based analysis software identifies faces and voices in large archives in seconds. With the help of a chatbot and a semantic search, the analyzed archive can be used for research purposes. In the intuitively designed dashboard, the results can be processed to answer further questions. Journalists, teachers, publishers, software providers and those working in political education can find out more about the Fraunhofer IDMT project at the didacta fair in Stuttgart from 11 to 15 February 2025.