Basic HTML-Version
54 EINBLICKE
19
EINBLICKE: Mr Kollmeier, what is it you find so fascinating
about the human ear?
KOLLMEIER: That it functions on the boundaries of what
is physically possible. We can hear the tiniest oscillations
measuring just ten times the diameter of a single atom, but
also process vibrations that are a million times larger. We
can detect interaural time differences of approximately ten
microseconds - taking advantage of ten times a millionth of
a second! That‘s incredible. And yet we still haven‘t entirely
understood how this works – even if our colleagues from the
field of biology are gradually unravelling themystery.No: there
is no technical system that can compare with the human ear
in terms of versatility.
EINBLICKE: But the ear is prone to disorders.Howdo you tackle
the problem of hearing loss?
KOLLMEIER: Hearing loss is not just a question of no longer
being able to hear anything at all – that‘s just the final stage.
The impairment begins at an earlier stage, when certain
symptoms start manifesting themselves. When the patient
can no longer understand what another person is saying in a
situation where several noises are audible at the same time.
And this is precisely the problem we focus on. Questions like:
How can we improve an acoustic signal so that the patient
can perceive each object separately?
EINBLICKE: So you don‘t hear "bee soup" instead of "pea
soup", can a hearing device promote concentration on a
Zur Person
Personal Details
Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier studierte Physik und Medizin in Göttin-
gen. Nach der Promotion in beiden Fächern und der Habilitation in
Physik wurde er 1993 als Physik-Professor und Leiter der Abteilung
Medizinische Physik an die Universität Oldenburg berufen. Er ist wis-
senschaftlicher Leiter der Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, seit 2000
Sprecher des Kompetenzzentrums HörTech und seit 2008 Leiter der
Fraunhofer-ProjektgruppeHör-,Sprach- undAudiotechnologie sowie
Sprecher des Zentrums für Hörforschung (Oldenburg/Hannover).
Er hat bisher über 40 Promotionen betreut und mehrere wissen-
schaftliche Preise erhalten,darunter den Forschungspreis Technische
Kommunikation der Alcatel-SEL-Stiftung. ImSeptember 2011 erhielt
er den Niedersächsischen Wissenschaftspreis unter anderem für
den Aufbau der Oldenburger Hörforschung, sein Engagement bei
der Einrichtung der European Medical School und als Sprecher des
beantragten Exzellenzclusters„Hearing4all“.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier studied physics and medicine in Göt-
tingen, Germany. After earning his PhD in both subjects and his
"habilitation" in physics he was appointed professor of physics at
the University of Oldenburg and head of the Medical Physics group.
He is the Scientific Director of the Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH.
He became the spokesman for the HörTech competence centre
in 2000 and has been the director of the Fraunhofer Project Group
Hearing, Speech and AudioTechnology as well as spokesman for the
Centre for Hearing Research (Oldenburg/Hanover) since 2008. He
has supervised more than 40 doctoral theses and received several
scientific awards, including the Alcatel-SEL Foundation Research Prize
for Technical Communication. In September 2011 he won the Lower
Saxony Science Award for his work in establishing the Oldenburg
Hearing Research Centre and his involvement in the establishment
of the European Medical School and as spokesman for the Cluster
of Excellence application ”Hearing4all”.
"Research, Research and more Research"
Pea soup or bee soup? Human hearing with its intricacies and imperfections is a source of fascination for hearing
researcher Birger Kollmeier. Professor Kollmeier is the spokesman for the Cluster of Excellence application "Hea-
ring4all", which has entered the final round of the Excellence Initiative, the winners of which will be selected in
June 2012. An interview with Kollmeier about intelligent hearing devices, the promotion of young scientists within
the projected Cluster and the search for ways to tackle the phenomenon of hearing impairment with science and
technology.