Press Releases

For Fraunhofer IDMT, the associated membership is an important step to learn more about the needs of broadcasting archives and to align research and development to these needs.

Scientists at Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg are developing solutions to improve the intelligibility of speech in media. Algorithms for automatic measurement, evaluation and presentation of speech intelligibility facilitate the work of sound engineers in film, game and audio productions. With the implementation of intelligibility technology in Steinberg's current production solution Nuendo, a traffic light now indicates how well the spoken words will be objectively received by listeners.

Wouldn’t it be great if an intelligent button in your ear could protect your hearing from loud ambient noise and at the same time enable crystal-clear communication with people and machines? On the Fraunhofer IDMT’s virtual exhibition stand at the Fraunhofer Solution Days 2020, experts will present their latest developments for a hearable for use in smart industrial workplaces. Participation is free of charge.

Fraunhofer IDMT has developed a software tool for quality inspectors based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which automates and simplifies the analysis of industrial sounds, for example in welding processes. Thanks to pre-built AI models, established methods for audio analysis and application-specific sensor data, companies can use it to improve their quality control decisively. Even without AI expert knowledge, statements can be made quickly and reliably regarding the quality of products and manufacturing processes during production and in the final quality inspection. The Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT will be presenting the new software at its virtual booth in the "Plant and Mechanical Engineering" area of the first virtual Fraunhofer trade fair, the "Fraunhofer Solution Days 2020".

Ilmenau, Germany, 8 September 2020 – Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (Fraunhofer IDMT) is today launching its virtual exhibition, part of the IBC Showcase, which will take place 8-11 September, from 10am to 8pm CET daily at ibc2020.digitalmedia.fraunhofer.de.

It is the details that make all the difference. Epileptic disorders can vary greatly in terms of type, cause and severity. This makes having accurate knowledge of the person’s individual medical condition very important when choosing a custom-fit therapy. To date, physicians have to rely on accounts by the person concerned and those close to them when estimating how often seizures occur. However, this information is often incomplete, as seizures are not always consciously perceived. The partners in the »MOND« project are working on a solution: A mobile neurosensing system suitable for everyday use that detects epileptic seizures automatically and documents them for the purpose of medical anamnesis and optimisation of patient safety. The project, which started in April 2020, is coordinated by the Division Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Oldenburg.

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.

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.