Background:

On 23 January 2008, the world-leading research institutions University of Oldenburg, Hannover Medical School and Leibniz Universität Hannover joined forces with other Lower Saxony institutions in audiology and applied hearing research to form the "Centre for Hearing Research". The centre is headed by Oldenburg professors Birger Kollmeier (Medical Physics) and Georg Klump (Biology) and the Director of the MHH ENT Clinic, Professor Thomas Lenarz.

The aim of the "Centre for Hearing Research" is to establish a nationally and internationally visible research focus on the topic of "Hearing and its disorders" that is recognised by the excellence of the scientists and institutions involved. The state of Lower Saxony is funding the joint initiative of the three universities with 3.75 million euros. This funding is intended to support the research centre, which proved its quality in the first selection of the Excellence Initiative of the federal and state governments, in getting ready for the next round of the Excellence Initiative. The current proposal in the Cluster of Excellence competition is called "Hearing4all".

Out of 107 draft applications submitted, the "Hearing4all" cluster is one of the 27 finalists that have been positively evaluated by the German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities. The cluster consists of an association of 24 renowned researchers from the disciplines of physics, medicine, biology, engineering and psychology, who have set themselves the goal of improving "hearing for all", i.e. for all people with varying degrees of hearing loss and in all situations. In addition to the three universities, the Jade University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the non-university research institutions HörTech Center of Competence, the Fraunhofer Project Group for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, the hearing centres in Hanover and Oldenburg and twelve industrial partners from the "Auditory Valley" network are also involved in the project. More about "Hearing4all" A video interview with Prof Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier on the Cluster of Excellence application can be found here.