The "Auditory Valley: Hearing in Lower Saxony" has narrowly missed out on victory in the cutting-edge cluster competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research

On 2 September 2008, the winners of the second round of the cutting-edge cluster competition of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) were announced in Berlin. Although "Auditory Valley: Hearing in Lower Saxony" cannot count itself among the final winners, its position as a globally unique Centre for Hearing Research and an outstanding medical technology location in Germany was once again confirmed.

"Although we were not selected by the jury today as one of the five clusters in Germany funded as part of the cutting-edge cluster competition, we are still one of the best twelve clusters nationwide - across all industries! Today's result therefore in no way diminishes our vision and the path we have already taken to develop the Oldenburg/Hanover region into the world's leading research and development centre for hearing systems of all kinds," said Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier, spokesperson for the cutting-edge cluster.

As finalists in the final round of the cutting-edge cluster competition, the partners of "Auditory Valley" were able to show that the problem of communication disorders caused by hearing loss is no longer a marginal issue in society and that they are among the world leaders with their research and development and the resulting products.

"Of course, we would have been delighted to receive the award from the jury and the associated funding," explains Stephan Albani, Managing Director of the HörTech Center of Competence for Hearing Aid System Technology, which is responsible for coordination within the cluster network. "But the results of our cluster partners to date have progressed to such an extent that the engine is on its way to 'More innovation. More growth. More employment.' even without 'Super Plus'."

The "Auditory Valley" cutting-edge cluster will continue to have a significant influence on the future of hearing. "The future of hearing will be characterised by an increasing combination of hearing system expertise in the medical sector (CI and hearing aids) with audio technology from the consumer sector," says Kollmeier, who is also the scientific director of HörTech gGmbH, the "Medical Physics" department at the University of Oldenburg and the new Fraunhofer project group "Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology".