It has never been easier to spread false or misleading information online. The anonymous, impersonal nature of the internet, combined with advanced tools like artificial intelligence, makes it trivial for bad actors to manipulate the truth and challenging for everyone else to separate reality from fiction. In this modern climate of disinformation, understanding how falsehoods and rumors spread is crucial for combating them.

In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Shandong Normal University developed a new type of rumor propagation model, taking inspiration from nuclear reactions. Their model can provide fresh insights on how online disinformation spreads and how to combat it.

Mathematical models can simulate how rumors spread and inform approaches to counter them. Commonly, they are adapted from epidemic models, where rumors stand in for microbes, as they are similarly contagious. While broadly useful, existing models fall short of capturing the complete picture of spreading misinformation.

“Infectious disease models may mostly view the spread of rumors as a passive process of receiving infection, thus ignoring the behavioral and psychological changes of people in the real world, as well as the impact of external events on the spread of rumors,” said author Wenrong Zheng.

In contrast, the team identified similarities between rumor spreading and fission, the reaction that occurs inside nuclear reactors. In their model, rumors act like neutrons, the small particles that kick off nuclear fission. These rumors are seen by individuals, who send them careening into other people in a chain reaction.

“When individuals encounter rumors, they are influenced by their personal interests and decide whether to spread or whether repeated exposure is needed before spreading,” said Zheng. “Based on different considerations of uranium fission thresholds, individuals are divided into groups based on the influence of their own interest thresholds, fully considering individual behavior and differences, which is more in line with the reality.”

This new perspective on rumor propagation can offer insights into how rumors tend to spread, and what individuals can do to mitigate them.

“The extent of rumor propagation is closely related to the proportion of rational internet users,” said Zheng. “This reflects the importance of education: the higher the level of education, the easier it is to question rumors when receiving information that is difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.”

This approach can also help guide governments and media experts looking to counter misinformation.

“We have found that rumors propagate on a small scale at the initial stage, so official platforms need to carry out real-time monitoring. When the possibility of rumors is detected, the government or official media should check the content of the rumors and make corrections so rational citizens can effectively inhibit the propagation of rumors.”

The article “A rumor propagation model based on nuclear fission” is authored by Wenrong Zheng, Fengming Liu, and Yingping Sun. It will appear in AIP Advances on July 30, 2024 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0217575). After that date, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0217575.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

AIP Advances is an open access journal publishing in all areas of physical sciences—applied, theoretical, and experimental. The inclusive scope of AIP Advances makes it an essential outlet for scientists across the physical sciences. See https://aip.scitation.org/journal/adv.

Journal: AIP Advances
DOI: 10.1063/5.0217575
Article Title: A rumor propagation model based on nuclear fission
Article Publication Date: 30-Jul-2024

Media Contact

Wendy Beatty
American Institute of Physics
media@aip.org
Office: 301.209.3090

www.aip.org

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Loud or unpleasant driving noises can impair the enjoyment of music in the car. Some sound systems therefore dynamically adjust the volume and bass. However, individual sound preferences are not taken into account. A study from Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg has now investigated the influence of background noise on the personal sound experience while driving – and shows how an adjustment of individual sound preferences once could improve the sound in the vehicle (and beyond).

Oldenburg, 23 July 2024. For over 15 years, the Personalized Hearing Systems group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT has been working on people’s individual sound preferences. The focus is on intelligent hearing solutions for special acoustic challenges. For a recent study¹, the researchers focused on driving noises that influence the musical experience while driving. They investigated how preferences for playback volume and sound balance differ in several ambient noises while driving. 18 test subjects with normal hearing aged between 23 and 51 years were asked to select their individually preferred settings when listening to music in a quiet environment. In addition, they were asked to repeat the task with nine different driving sounds played in random order. These tests were carried out twice on different days with each participant. The YourSound audio software developed at the Oldenburg branch of the institute was used, which enables personal sound settings to be made very efficiently and playfully using music samples.

Sound preferences change with the noise level

The researchers’ observations confirm that, on average, the music is set louder and with more bass by the test subjects when loud driving noise is present. Some modern infotainment systems also take this approach automatically as soon as it gets louder in the vehicle due to rolling and wind noise. However, the researchers were able to recognize that the adjusted levels and balances differed significantly from person to person. “These personal sound settings remained very stable even when the study was repeated on another day. A personal sound preference was therefore clearly recognizable for all participants,” explains PD Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, Head of the Personalized Hearing Systems Group at the Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg.

The study was therefore particularly interested in the sound settings that were made during the playback of the various driving sounds. Despite considerable level and spectral differences, the preferences changed only slightly in the different driving sounds. However, they differed greatly between the individual test subjects and also showed significant deviations from the adjustments without background noise.

The researchers have thus demonstrated that an individual adjustment of sound preferences can be beneficial, and that ambient noise should also be taken into account – which is an important result, especially for improving audio playback in cars.

Individual sound adjustments in two steps

For practical application, a number of findings can be drawn from the results of the study: People have individual hearing preferences in both quiet and noisy driving scenarios. A standardized increase in volume and low frequencies in the presence of background noise cannot therefore satisfy all sound preferences. The good news is that personal sound profiles could be limited to two one-time settings – one for quiet environments and one for scenarios with driving noise.

“Infotainment systems with such simple but flexible options for adjustment can enable passengers to benefit from a significantly better listening experience in vehicles”, says Sina Buchholz, head of the study and research scientist at Fraunhofer IDMT. The researchers also see potential applications beyond the car. Once adjusted personal settings could be transferred to other devices, such as headphones or mobile speakers.

—
¹
The results of the study were published on June 17, 2024 in the article “Investigating Individual, Loudness-Dependent Equalization Preferences in Different Driving Sound Conditions” by Jan Rennies, Sina Buchholz, Andreas Volgenandt, Tobias Bruns, Christian Rollwage and Jens-E. Appell published on the website of the Audio Engineering Society (https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22639).

Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA at Fraunhofer IDMT
in Oldenburg

Founded in 2008 by Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier and Dr. Jens-E. Appell, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT’s Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA stands for market-oriented research and development with a focus on the following areas:

– Speech and event recognition
– Sound quality and speech intelligibility
– Mobile neurotechnology and systems for networked healthcare

With in-house expertise in the development of hardware and software systems for audio system technology and signal enhancement, the employees at the Oldenburg site are responsible for transferring scientific findings into practical, customer-oriented solutions.

Through scientific cooperation, the institute is closely linked to the Carl von Ossietzky University, Jade University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer. Fraunhofer IDMT is a partner in the »Hearing4all« cluster of excellence and in the Collaborative Research Centre »Hearing Acoustics«.

Further information on https://www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa

Contact for the media:
Christian Colmer
Head of Marketing and Communication

Fraunhofer-Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT
Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA
Marie-Curie-Str. 2
26129 Oldenburg
Phone +49 441 2172-436
christian.colmer@idmt.fraunhofer.de
http://www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa

Originalpublikation:

“Investigating Individual, Loudness-Dependent Equalization Preferences in Different Driving Sound Conditions” by Jan Rennies, Sina Buchholz, Andreas Volgenandt, Tobias Bruns, Christian Rollwage and Jens-E. Appell published on the website of the Audio Engineering Society (https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22639)

Weitere Informationen:

http://www.idmt.fraunhofer.de/hsa

The post Driving Noise Impacts Music Enjoyment in Cars appeared first on Innovations Report.

When an earthquake, flood, or other disaster strikes a region, existing communication infrastructure such as cell phone and radio towers are often damaged or destroyed. Restoring emergency communications as quickly as possible is vital for coordinating rescue and relief efforts.

Researchers at Stanford University and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have developed a portable antenna that could be quickly deployed in disaster-prone areas or used to set up communications in underdeveloped regions. The antenna, described recently in Nature Communications, packs down to a small size and can easily shift between two configurations to communicate either with satellites or devices on the ground without using additional power.

“The state-of-the-art solutions typically employed in these areas are heavy, metallic dishes. They’re not easy to move around, they require a lot of power to operate, and they’re not particularly cost-effective,” said Maria Sakovsky, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford. “Our antenna is lightweight, low-power, and can switch between two operating states. It’s able to do more with as little as possible in these areas where communications are lacking.”

Two functions in one antenna

The researchers developed the antenna with an approach typically used to design devices that are being deployed in space. Because of fuel and space limitations, technology being sent into orbit must be very lightweight and packaged as small as possible. Once the items are in orbit, they unfold into the proper shape for use. The researchers wanted their antenna to be similarly collapsible and lightweight.

The antenna designed by Sakovsky and her colleagues at AUB, including Joseph Costantine, Youssef Tawk and Rosette Maria Bichara, is made of fiber composites (a material often used in satellites) and resembles a child’s finger-trap toy, with multiple strips of material crossing in spirals. Just like any helix-based antenna, conductive material running through the antenna sends out signals but, thanks to its unique structure, the researchers can adjust the pattern and power of those signals in the new antenna by pulling it into longer shapes or shorter shapes.

“Because we wanted the antenna to be able to collapse into a packable shape, we started with this structure that led us to a very untraditional antenna design,” Sakovsky said. “We’re using shapes that have never been used on helical antennas before, and we’ve shown that they work.”

At its most compact, the antenna is a hollow ring that stands just over an inch tall and about five inches across—not much larger than a bracelet—and weighs 1.4 ounces. In this shape, it’s able to reach satellites with a high-power signal sent in a particular direction. When stretched out to about a foot tall, the antenna sends a lower power signal in all directions, more like a Wi-Fi router.

Shifting between these two states is as simple as pulling or pushing on the antenna. These movements don’t even need to be particularly precise because, once the antenna is moved past a certain point, the structure snaps to the right position. The specific size and shape of the antenna design will determine which frequencies those two states communicate across.

“The frequency you want to operate at will dictate how large the antenna needs to be, but we’ve been able to show that no matter what frequency you operate at, you can scale this design principle to achieve the same performance,” Sakovsky said.

The fabricated prototype was tested for deployment and structural performance at Stanford and its electromagnetic radiation characteristics at the antenna measurement facilities at AUB.

Applications in orbit

To be deployed in the field, the antenna would need to be paired with a transceiver to send and receive signals, a ground plane to reflect radio waves, and other electronics, but the whole package would still only weigh about two pounds, Sakovsky said. And the antenna’s unique dual functionality means that it could replace multiple heavier antennas in areas where deployment is a challenge.

That includes uses in disaster-struck and underdeveloped areas, but also, potentially, in space. Sakovsky and her colleagues are considering adapting their design for satellite communications, allowing satellites to use the same antenna to talk to each other and to talk to the ground.

“We don’t have a lot of spare operating power, volume, or mass and on our spacecraft either,” Sakovsky said. “This holds a lot of potential for replacing multiple antennas on a satellite with a single one.”

Sakovsky is affiliated with the Stanford SystemX Alliance.

Other coauthors are from American University of Beirut.

This work was funded the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation.

Journal: Nature Communications
DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-44189-9
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
A multi-stable deployable quadrifilar helix antenna with radiation reconfigurability for disaster-prone areas
Article Publication Date
21-Jan-2024

Media Contact

Jill Wu
Stanford University School of Engineering
jillwu@stanford.edu

The post Portable Antenna Enhances Communication After Disasters appeared first on Innovations Report.

MIT researchers have demonstrated the first system for ultra-low-power underwater networking and communication, which can transmit signals across kilometer-scale distances.

This technique, which the researchers began developing several years ago, uses about one-millionth the power that existing underwater communication methods use. By expanding their battery-free system’s communication range, the researchers have made the technology more feasible for applications such as aquaculture, coastal hurricane prediction, and climate change modeling.

“What started as a very exciting intellectual idea a few years ago — underwater communication with a million times lower power — is now practical and realistic. There are still a few interesting technical challenges to address, but there is a clear path from where we are now to deployment,” says Fadel Adib, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Signal Kinetics group in the MIT Media Lab.

Underwater backscatter enables low-power communication by encoding data in sound waves that it reflects, or scatters, back toward a receiver. These innovations enable reflected signals to be more precisely directed at their source.

Due to this “retrodirectivity,” less signal scatters in the wrong directions, allowing for more efficient and longer-range communication.

When tested in a river and an ocean, the retrodirective device exhibited a communication range that was more than 15 times farther than previous devices. However, the experiments were limited by the length of the docks available to the researchers.

To better understand the limits of underwater backscatter, the team also developed an analytical model to predict the technology’s maximum range. The model, which they validated using experimental data, showed that their retrodirective system could communicate across kilometer-scale distances.

The researchers shared these findings in two papers which will be presented at this year’s ACM SIGCOMM and MobiCom conferences. Adib, senior author on both papers, is joined on the SIGCOMM paper by co-lead authors Aline Eid, a former postdoc who is now an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, and Jack Rademacher, a research assistant; as well as research assistants Waleed Akbar and Purui Wang, and postdoc Ahmed Allam. The MobiCom paper is also written by co-lead authors Akbar and Allam.

Communicating with sound waves

Underwater backscatter communication devices utilize an array of nodes made from “piezoelectric” materials to receive and reflect sound waves. These materials produce an electric signal when mechanical force is applied to them.

When sound waves strike the nodes, they vibrate and convert the mechanical energy to an electric charge. The nodes use that charge to scatter some of the acoustic energy back to the source, transmitting data that a receiver decodes based on the sequence of reflections.

But because the backscattered signal travels in all directions, only a small fraction reaches the source, reducing the signal strength and limiting the communication range.

To overcome this challenge, the researchers leveraged a 70-year-old radio device called a Van Atta array, in which symmetric pairs of antennas are connected in such a way that the array reflects energy back in the direction it came from.

But connecting piezoelectric nodes to make a Van Atta array reduces their efficiency. The researchers avoided this problem by placing a transformer between pairs of connected nodes. The transformer, which transfers electric energy from one circuit to another, allows the nodes to reflect the maximum amount of energy back to the source.

“Both nodes are receiving and both nodes are reflecting, so it is a very interesting system. As you increase the number of elements in that system, you build an array that allows you to achieve much longer communication ranges,” Eid explains.

In addition, they used a technique called cross-polarity switching to encode binary data in the reflected signal. Each node has a positive and a negative terminal (like a car battery), so when the positive terminals of two nodes are connected and the negative terminals of two nodes are connected, that reflected signal is a “bit one.”

But if the researchers switch the polarity, and the negative and positive terminals are connected to each other instead, then the reflection is a “bit zero.”

“Just connecting the piezoelectric nodes together is not enough. By alternating the polarities between the two nodes, we are able to transmit data back to the remote receiver,” Rademacher explains.

When building the Van Atta array, the researchers found that if the connected nodes were too close, they would block each other’s signals. They devised a new design with staggered nodes that enables signals to reach the array from any direction. With this scalable design, the more nodes an array has, the greater its communication range.

They tested the array in more than 1,500 experimental trials in the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Falmouth, Massachusetts, in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The device achieved communication ranges of 300 meters, more than 15 times longer than they previously demonstrated.

However, they had to cut the experiments short because they ran out of space on the dock.

Modeling the maximum

That inspired the researchers to build an analytical model to determine the theoretical and practical communication limits of this new underwater backscatter technology.

Building off their group’s work on RFIDs, the team carefully crafted a model that captured the impact of system parameters, like the size of the piezoelectric nodes and the input power of the signal, on the underwater operation range of the device.

“It is not a traditional communication technology, so you need to understand how you can quantify the reflection. What are the roles of the different components in that process?” Akbar says.

For instance, the researchers needed to derive a function that captures the amount of signal reflected out of an underwater piezoelectric node with a specific size, which was among the biggest challenges of developing the model, he adds.

They used these insights to create a plug-and-play model into a which a user could enter information like input power and piezoelectric node dimensions and receive an output that shows the expected range of the system.

They evaluated the model on data from their experimental trials and found that it could accurately predict the range of retrodirected acoustic signals with an average error of less than one decibel.

Using this model, they showed that an underwater backscatter array can potentially achieve kilometer-long communication ranges.

“We are creating a new ocean technology and propelling it into the realm of the things we have been doing for 6G cellular networks. For us, it is very rewarding because we are starting to see this now very close to reality,” Adib says.

The researchers plan to continue studying underwater backscatter Van Atta arrays, perhaps using boats so they could evaluate longer communication ranges. Along the way, they intend to release tools and datasets so other researchers can build on their work. At the same time, they are beginning to move toward commercialization of this technology.

This research was funded, in part, by the Office of Naval Research, the Sloan Research Fellowship, the National Science Foundation, the MIT Media Lab, and the Doherty Chair in Ocean Utilization.

Written by Adam Zewe, MIT News

Paper: “Enabling Long-Range Underwater Backscatter via Van Atta Acoustic Networks”

http://www.mit.edu/~fadel/papers/VAB-paper.pdf

Paper: “The Underwater Backscatter Channel: Theory, Link Budget, and Experimental Validation”

http://www.mit.edu/~fadel/papers/PAB-theory-paper.pdf

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A team of scientists working off the west coast of Ireland have set a new world record for the furthest broadband transmission from a ship at sea back to land without satellite or cellular connection. The new record is 36.83km (19.9 nautical miles) set on Saturday, 26 May 2023, off the coast of the Aran Islands.

The team based at Aran Island Research Station (AIRS) on Inishmaan, with support from the local community, Irish manufacturer ÉireComposites, the Marine Institute, University College Dublin (UCD) and ENS Paris-Saclay, used technology called ‘SeaFi’ to beat the previous record of 35.92km (19.4 nautical miles), set on 6 June 2018 using the same technology.

SeaFi is a self-funded scientific research project that provides enabling technology behind the European Research Council (ERC) funded project HIGHWAVE, which is led by Professor Frédéric Dias from UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics and ENS Paris-Saclay. SeaFi was invented by HIGHWAVE consortium member Arnaud Disant in 2013, with support from the Irish Naval Service and the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI). HIGHWAVE is based at AIRS and studies breaking Atlantic ocean waves using fluid dynamics principles. AIRS was built as part of the HIGHWAVE project.

In January this year, the ERC awarded HIGHWAVE a proof-of-concept grant to develop the project’s novel maritime wireless communications, under the project name ‘REALTIMESEA.’

HIGHWAVE lead researcher, Professor Frédéric Dias said: “This record is another milestone in the development of wireless marine data communication systems. The ERC proof-of-concept REALTIMESEA precisely deals with using the SeaFI system on data buoys. The system offers mobility, privacy, big data throughput capability in a cost-efficient manner.

As shown with the record, it has the capability of being available over tens of kilometres much like UHF/VHF, thus allowing data from a variety of sensors located at sea to be immediately available on shore or at least on a nearby ship.

“I want to thank our collaborators and supporters from the Marine Institute, ÉireComposites and the community of Inishmaan, who are very much a part of the HIGHWAVE team.”

As senior research engineer on the project, Mr Disant was on board the MV Blath na Mara (pictured) for the record attempt. He said: “We are delighted to have broken the unchallenged 2018 world record on Inishmaan, almost without preparation and no sea trials.”

At sea presently, fishermen and other maritime businesses only have two options for communications: satellite or cellular systems, such as the 3G used by mobile phone networks. SeaFi offers a third alternative, fulfilling a deficit in maritime coastal telecommunications.

The SeaFi technology facilitates the creation of private networks in ports and coastal areas by establishing connections between lighthouses, maritime wind turbines, offshore drilling platforms and vessels at sea. These networks can be used to connect ships and their crews or alternatively data collection from data collection buoys.

SeaFi will be used to connect the new proof-of-concept Met Ocean Buoy 10km off the shores of Inishmaan.

Breaking the Record 

MV Blath Na Mara set sail in the early hours of Saturday morning, crewed by Master Rory Beatty, Helmsman Thomàs Feeney, Navigator Tommy Flaherty and SeaFi Station Operators Micheal O’Conghaile and Arnaud Disant. The day was fair and a gentle breeze helped sail on a course of 250 degrees past the Aran Islands, approximately 70km from the port of Rossaveel, while remaining in contact with the Aran Island Research Station (AIRS) where the scientists from UCD and ENS Paris-Saclay received multiple emails and video calls over the course of the record attempt.

The last email sent from the bridge of MV Blath Na Mara, registered at a distance of 36.83 km was also received by independent witnesses in Beijing (China), Larnaca (Cyprus), Bordeaux (France) and San Diego (USA).

ÉireComposites directly supported the challenge, working closely with Arnaud Disant to create a concept dome structure, in a move to benefit the technology industry in Connemara, telecommunications and ocean engineering generally. The Marine Institute helped to secure Merchant Vessel Blath Na Mara and a crew. UCD and ENS Paris Saclay were instrumental in lining up a team of scientists. All these efforts were wholly backed by the local community of the Aran Islands who have become a support network and enthusiastically engage with the HIGHWAVE project.

About HIGHWAVE

The €2.5m HIGHWAVE project applies fluid dynamics to study the physical mechanisms underlying destructive breaking waves on the ocean’s surface and develop accurate wave models. These models could help improve criteria for the design of ships and coastal and offshore infrastructures, help to quantify seabed erosion, and help to quantify air-sea CO2 transfer, which is key to predicting future climate.

About the ERC 

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation.

The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since 1 November 2021, Maria Leptin is the new President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

Media Contact

Caroline Byrne
UCD Research & Innovation
caroline.byrne1@ucd.ie

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Developing an audio device that offers optimum sound experience to all people is not easy. The great challenge is that each person has their own listening preferences.

For this reason, the Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT has developed adaptive algorithms as well as intuitive methods for adjusting personal sound. Together with a customer, this technology has now been successfully integrated in headphones as well.

Every person experiences sound differently and has their own individual listening preferences — which also depend on age and hearing ability. Therefore, factory settings for audio solutions cannot equally appeal to all listeners. The usual adjustment options also have limitations. The Oldenburg Branch HSA of Fraunhofer IDMT has developed a method and algorithms to enable a simple and intuitive adjustment of sound preferences without complex and rigid equalizers. On an intuitive user interface, users select their favorite sound along the instrumentation of a demo song in a playful manner. In just a few steps, a virtual assistant inquires about sound preferences for normal and quiet sound volumes of different instruments. Once set, the sound profile has a positive effect on the overall sound. This technology can be integrated in devices with sound reproduction such as TVs, smart phones, soundbars or infotainment systems in cars as well as on streaming or media platforms.

More than technically perfect sound

In developing sound personalization, Fraunhofer researchers have paid special attention to a user-friendly application of the technology. “Each person has a personal sound preference. The usual sound adjustment options do not take into account how individual loudness perception affects these preferences — or users are discouraged by the complexity of the options and do not use them. Our technology reduces these obstacles because it can be used without knowledge of levels and frequencies and aims to create the individually best sound for every audio volume,” notes Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, Head of Personalized Hearing Systems at Fraunhofer IDMT.

“We are happy to have implemented this technology, which we call YourSound, in the headphone product category, thereby making it available to a wider community of users. In the past, we were able to successfully adapt this technological concept for fast and individual sound adjustment to multimedia systems in cars,” summarizes Dr. Jens-E. Appell, Head of Department, Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speed and Audio Technology HSA.

The technology for personalizing sound has been successfully implemented in  Sennheiser consumer headphones together with Sonova Holding AG.

Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA at Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg, Germany

Founded in 2008 by Prof. Birger Kollmeier and Dr. Jens-E. Appell, the Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology HSA of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT stands for market-oriented research and development with a focus on the following areas: speech and event recognition, sound quality and speech intelligibility, as well as mobile neurotechnology and systems for networked healthcare. With in-house expertise in the development of hardware and software systems for audio system technology and signal enhancement, the employees at the Oldenburg site are responsible for transferring scientific findings into practical, customer-oriented solutions. Through scientific cooperation, the institute is closely linked to the Carl von Ossietzky University, Jade University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer. Fraunhofer IDMT is a partner in the “Hearing4all” cluster of excellence.

Weitere Informationen:

https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2023/june-2023/first-rate-sound…

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