As we bid farewell to the year 2023, we reflect on the beautiful moments it brought our team. With the arrival of the new year, we cherish the memories of numerous great connections, new experiences, and valuable partnerships that enriched our journey. Throughout this remarkable year, we actively participated in international conferences, conventions, and pitch competitions, contributing significantly to our success and exposure. In case you haven’t been updated on our ventures in 2023, allow us to take a moment to recap some of the major events we were privileged to attend.
DAGA 2023
DAGA 2023 was held in Hamburg, Germany, from the 6th – the 9th of March. It is a German Annual Conference on Acoustics, focusing on current developments in the field. This year’s edition was organized by The German Society for Acoustics (DEGA) and the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH), with over 1000 participants from all acoustic fields attending the event.
During the conference, our colleague Ulrike Sloma delivered a presentation titled: “Proof of concept of a binaural renderer with increased plausibility”. Her talk introduced the basic setup and report on informal and formal testing in Ilmenau, proving that plausible playback via binaural rendering is finally possible. If you didn’t get the chance to attend the discussion, the manuscript of the presentation for the DAGA proceedings is available here https://pub.dega-akustik.de/DAGA_2023/data/articles/000185.pdf
Moreover, we welcomed numerous audio-enthusiastic visitors to our booth. Seeing so many people interested in what we do and how we can help them improve their audio experience over headphones was amazing. During our immersive audio demo presentation, we received great feedback from several listeners and exchanged ideas for use cases and applications. Read the full recap here.
AES Europe 2023
We attended the 154th Audio Engineering convention held at the Aalto University, Espoo, near Helsinki, where Brandenburg Labs was a silver partner of AES Europe 2023, supporting knowledge transfer, communication, and collaboration between audio enthusiasts and professionals. This year’s edition was special as AES celebrates its 75th anniversary, connecting like-minded audio enthusiasts and professionals worldwide.
We were thrilled to witness numerous enthusiastic listeners who thoroughly enjoyed our lifelike audio demo experience. Moreover, we had the opportunity to engage with our listeners and gain valuable insights from their innovative suggestions and ideas, which further enhanced our demo.
Furthermore, our team here at Brandenburg Labs filmed a workshop titled “Proof of Concept – Plausible Binaural Renderer” for this convention. The workshop introduces the basic setup and report on both informal tests and formal testing in Ilmenau, proving that plausible playback via binaural rendering is finally possible. Next to the study’s findings, our CEO, Karlheinz Brandenburg, gives insights into requirements for lifelike immersive audio for headphones. Follow the link and enjoy watching the workshop now: https://youtu.be/CBWMi16DULc. read further into the blog here for more insights about our participation at the convention.
Ilmenau Science Night
Brandenburg Labs participated in this year’s Ilmenau Science Night – “a unique mix of science, technology, and culture” organized by TU Ilmenau on the 1st of July 2023. The event was packed with an array of experimental lectures, laboratory tours, exciting activities, and so much more.
We participated in the event together with the Department of Biosignal Processing of TU Ilmenau, showcasing the demonstrator system for our project “TheraTin – Theranostics and Therapy of Tinnitus using special hearing” which was funded under the Directive for the Promotion of Research, Technology, and Innovation of Thüringen as part of the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic (REACT-EU). Several interested visitors from around the Thuringia region were able to come by our booth and test our demo.
During the demo, we provided insight into EEG measurements and the therapy methods used in TheraTin that people could try themselves. Several people shared their personal experiences when visiting our booth, while we shared insights into the research conducted in the project. This enriched the event and provided a unique opportunity for us to round up the TheraTin project. If you would like to learn more about the TheraTin project, visit https://brandenburg-labs.com/theratin/.
Moreover, our CEO, Karlheinz Brandenburg, delivered a very interesting talk titled: “The Dream of Perfect Sound” at Parkcafé in Ilmenau. He talked about the evolution of hi-fi technology, from the pioneering days of Edison to the modern playback systems we know today, including speakers, headphones, and various storage media like vinyl records, cassette players, CDs, and MP3s. Read the full recap here.
AES International Conference on Spatial and Immersive Audio
This year’s AES International Conference on Spatial and Immersive Audio was organized by the Audio Engineering Society and hosted at the University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom. Brandenburg Labs was a Gold Partner of the three-day event packed with interesting panel discussions, in-person networking, and so much more.
Our CEO, Karlheinz Brandenburg, participated in two insightful workshops/panels. The first workshop was organized by Marta Gospodarek, titled “Moving Through a Spatial Audio Scene: Perception and Application”. The workshop provided insight into the ways in which movement affects sound perception and the key elements required for effective sound implementation. The concluding event was the second workshop titled, “How Can We Make Spatial Audio Truly Immersive”.
Moreover, our team had the pleasure of showcasing the latest version of our lifelike immersive audio demo for visitors. We have built a proof-of-concept demo system, which allows users to experience our headphone technology. It simulates a real set of loudspeakers, allowing people to listen to virtual sound sources, which are stably anchored in a fixed position in the room. The full recap is available here.
Inova Ilmenau
We took part in inova2023 job fair that took place on the 25th of October at the Universitätssportzentrum (USZ), Technische Universität Ilmenau. inovailmenau, “one of the largest career fairs in Central Germany”, is the flagship project of SWING e.V. has solidified its position as a pivotal career platform in Central Germany over the past 26 years.
During the event, our team welcomed various interested students and graduates from universities across Thuringia to our booth, who listened to the latest version of our lifelike immersive audio demo. We were deeply appreciative of the positive compliments and constructive feedback we received regarding our demo during the event. Our team had a great time connecting with students, addressing inquiries about our current job openings, and discussing our ongoing projects. Students also had a unique opportunity to apply for our current open positions and participate in on-site job interviews to make a great first impression. Learn more about our participation at Inova23.
Tonmeistertagung 2023 (tmt32)
We participated in the Tonmeistertagung (tmt32) event that was held in CCD Düsseldorf from the 8th to the 11th of November 2023. The event kicked off on a high note with an engaging keynote speech delivered by our CEO, Karlheinz Brandenburg, titled “The Spark – The Moment of Inspiration” during the opening ceremony. Prof. Brandenburg shared insights into the remarkable journey of MP3 and other audio coding formats, shedding light on the crucial role of our understanding of hearing and cognition.
In recognition of his significant contributions to the audio industry, Karlheinz Brandenburg was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Verband Deutscher Tonmeister e.V. (VDT) during the ceremony. For more details, refer to the press release here.
Moreover, our team once again welcomed several visitors who were eager to listen to our immersive audio demo at the event. Read the full recap here.
AES New York 2023
Last but not least, Brandenburg Labs had the privilege to participate at the 155th Audio Engineering Convention from the 25th to the 27th of October. The convention took place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, USA. It was a special edition as AES celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023, connecting like-minded audio enthusiasts and professionals worldwide since 1948.
During the event, our CEO Karlheinz Brandenburg delivered an intriguing talk titled ‘Implications of and Application Scenarios for Plausible Immersive Audio Via Headphones’. The paper examines practical uses such as using immersive audio for Tiitus therapy, enhancing spatial audio over headphones, and applications aligned with the MPEG-I standard. He also presented recent developments in creating realistic 3D audio experiences through headphones and explored various applications and their needs.
Moreover, our team demoed the latest version of our lifelike immersive audio demo to visitors at our booth.
