Profile building, competition, concentration of resources: these are the topics that are currently dominating the discussion about the future of universities. More important than ever is the establishment of "scientific lighthouses", which characterise locations and set them apart from others.

A "lighthouse" in the best sense of the word is the acoustics research at the University of Oldenburg, which has made the university famous far beyond national borders. Since 1992, the DFG has been funding the interdisciplinary research training group "Psychoacoustics" initiated by the physicist Prof. Dr Volker Mellert and the psychologist Prof. Dr August Schick. The research training group, which aimed to clarify the processes underlying the hearing process, was the starting point for the establishment of Oldenburg hearing research, which is the subject of this special issue.

The foundation of the "Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH" and the European Research Training Group "Neurosensory Science" with the Groningen Rijksuniversiteit also testify to the great success of this research. Further milestones in the success story of hearing research in Oldenburg are the joint degree programme "Hearing Technology and Audiology" at the University and the University of Applied Sciences and, above all, the opening of the "Hearing Aid Systems Technology" (HörTech) Centre of Competence in February 2001. The Centre of Excellence alone is funded by the federal and state governments to the tune of tens of millions and is regarded as an outstanding example of applied technology transfer between universities, clinics and industry. With almost twelve million Germans with a hearing impairment requiring treatment, research aimed at improving the system technology of hearing aids is a logical step.

The national and international reputation of Oldenburg's hearing research has not gone unnoticed by Denmark - a country that produces a third of all hearing aids worldwide. Almost at the same time, the Oldenburg physicist and physician Prof Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier received calls from the Technical Universities of Copenhagen and Aalborg. But Kollmeier, founder and director of "Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH" and spokesman for the HörTech Center of Competence, is staying - fortunately for the university and also for the city, which had also campaigned for him. With his research, he will help to ensure that the "beacon of hearing research" at the University of Oldenburg continues to burn brightly.

Yours

Dr Corinna Dahm-Brey
Deputy Head of Press and Communication