Fraunhofer IIS Expands “AudioLabs” International Research Center for Audio & Multimedia Technologies

The following press release was issued by Fraunhofer ISS:

London/Erlangen (PRWEB) May 12, 2011

Fraunhofer IIS, the world’s renowned source of audio and multimedia technologies, today announced the expansion of the International Audio Laboratories Erlangen (AudioLabs), an international research center focusing on digital processing of audio and multimedia signals. To help drive the organization’s key initiatives for the next decade, three professors were newly appointed to the joint institution between Fraunhofer IIS and the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. Fraunhofer is also seeking top scientists from around the world to further grow the organization.

The addition of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Herre, Prof. Dr. Bernd Edler and Prof. Dr. Emanuël Habets to the organization’s team of more than 20 internationally renowned scientists, will further drive AudioLabs’ cutting-edge research and lead the development of technologies in the fields of audio coding, audio signal analysis and perceptual spatial audio signal processing.

“Fraunhofer’s extensive history and expertise in the field of audio and multimedia technologies, coupled with the university’s highly-talented scientists from several disciplines, is the ideal combination for driving innovation and ground-breaking research in this space,” said Dr. Bernhard Grill, representative AudioLabs at Fraunhofer IIS. “AudioLabs will continue to help leverage ongoing projects for Fraunhofer’s audio and multimedia division and benefit from Fraunhofer’s expanding capacities with the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, a leader in research and teaching.”

The close cooperation between the university and the Fraunhofer IIS creates a unique organization with competencies ranging from basic research and teaching, to technology implementation in innovative multimedia systems. Fraunhofer IIS provided a budget to fund AudioLabs for an initial period of ten years.

“The international presence and outstanding atmosphere at AudioLabs attracts the best and brightest scientists from all over the world, as well as the top students from German universities,” said Prof. Jürgen Herre, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. “Working with Fraunhofer, we look forward to continuous innovation and adding further research topics.”

Fraunhofer will hold a reception and introduction of AudioLabs by Prof. Jürgen Herre at the AES Convention in London from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on May 13 in Room 1.

For more information, visit http://www.audiolabs-erlangen.com.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Herre
Jürgen Herre joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Erlangen, Germany, in 1989. Since then he has been involved in the development of perceptual coding algorithms for high quality audio, including the well-known ISO/MPEGAudio Layer III coder (aka „mp3“). In 1995, Prof. Herre joined Bell Laboratories for a PostDoc term working on the development of MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Since the end of ‘96 he is back at Fraunhofer working on the development of advanced multimedia technology including MPEG-4, MPEG-7 and secure delivery of audiovisual content, currently as the Chief Scientist for the Audio/Multimedia activities at Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen. In September 2010, he joined the International Audio Laboratories Erlangen as a professor in “Audio Coding”.

Prof. Dr. Bernd Edler
Bernd Edler received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in 1985. From 1986 to 2010 he was a member of the research staff of the Universität Hannover, where he received his Dr.-Ing. degree. His main focus was in the field of audio coding, where he contributed to several international standards such as ISO/MPEG-Audio Layer III (mp3). Additionally, he worked on improving signal processing algorithms for cochlear implants. From 1998 to 1999, Edler was a guest scientist at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, USA. In 2010 the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg appointed him as a professor for “Audio Signal Analysis“ at the International Audio Layeahboratories Erlangen.

Prof. Dr. Emanuël Habets
Emanuël Habets received the B.Sc degree in electrical engineering from the Hogeschool Limburg, The Netherlands, in 1999, and the M.Sc and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e), The Netherlands, in 2002 and 2007, respectively. From March 2007 until February 2009, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and at the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel. In 2009, he was awarded a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship for Career Development. From February 2009 until November 2010, he was a Member of the Research Staff in the Communication and Signal Processing Group at Imperial College London, United Kingdom. In November 2010, he joined the International Audio Laboratories Erlangen as a professor in “Perception-based Spatial Audio Signal Processing”.

About Fraunhofer IIS
The Fraunhofer IIS Audio and Multimedia division, based in Erlangen, Germany, has been working in compressed audio technology for more than 20 years and remains a leading innovator of technologies for cutting-edge multimedia systems. Fraunhofer IIS is the main inventor of mp3 and universally credited with the development of AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) as well as technologies for the media world of tomorrow, including MPEG Surround, MPEG Spatial Audio Object Coding and the Fraunhofer Audio Communication Engine.

Through the course of more than two decades, Fraunhofer IIS has licensed its audio codec software and application-specific customizations to at least 1,000 companies. Fraunhofer estimates that it has enabled more than 1 billion commercial products worldwide using its mp3, AAC and other media technologies.

The Fraunhofer IIS organization is part of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Munich, Germany. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest applied research organization and is partly funded by the German government. With 18,000 employees worldwide, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is composed of 60 Institutes conducting research in a broad range of research areas. For more information, contact Matthias Rose, matthias. rose(at)iis(dot)fraunhofer(dot)de, or visit http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm.

About University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
The University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is one of Germanys largest universities. Advance through Networks, the motto it has adopted, has been inspired by the lively dialogue between subjects and faculties that typifies the University and that has given rise to an almost unique range of interdisciplinary courses. The main focus in research and teaching is to be found at the interface between Natural Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in close cooperation with the classical university disciplines Law, Theology and the Humanities. Economics, Social and Educational Sciences complete the range of subjects offered.

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