Ceremonial opening with Science Minister Johanna Wanka

Opening the "Hearing4all" cluster of excellence (from left): Stephan Albani, Managing Director of HörTech/Hörzentrum Oldenburg, Prof. Dr Erich Barke, President of the University of Hanover, Science Minister Prof. Dr Johanna Wanka, Prof. Prof. h. c. Dr Thomas Lenarz, deputy spokesperson for "Hearing4All", Prof. Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier, spokesperson for "Hearing4All", Prof. Dr Babette Simon, President of the University of Oldenburg, Prof. Dr Dieter Bitter-Suermann, President of Hannover Medical School. Oldenburg. The "Hearing4all" cluster of excellence was launched with an international conference and a ceremony at the University of Oldenburg on Thursday, 1 November. In June, the hearing researchers from the University of Oldenburg, Hannover Medical School (MHH) and Leibniz Universität Hannover scored points with their joint Cluster of Excellence application in the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. The University of Oldenburg is in charge of the consortium on the subject of hearing and the project will receive 28 million euros in funding over five years. Among the guests at the opening ceremony, who were welcomed by University President Prof Dr Babette Simon, were Lower Saxony's Science Minister Prof Dr Johanna Wanka as well as MHH President Prof Dr Dieter Bitter-Suermann and Prof Dr Erich Barke, President of the University of Hanover. "The success of the Cluster of Excellence honours the many years of outstanding work by the scientists at our universities. Many people and Lower Saxony as an internationally important location for hearing research will benefit from this cutting-edge research with a high level of application in the field of hearing," said Science Minister Wanka during the official opening ceremony. Concentrated scientific expertise and top-class partners - that is what characterises the Hearing4all cluster of excellence, agreed the President and the Presidents of the participating universities. They will continue to pull together in the future to achieve the goal of "hearing for all" through innovative research. A two-day international conference will be held to mark the opening of the cluster of excellence. It is dedicated to the future of hearing research. The ambitious goal of the Cluster of Excellence is to improve the general communication situation of those affected. The way to achieve this is through individualised hearing diagnostics and the provision of personal hearing aids adapted to this - whether at work, in traffic or at home. To this end, innovative processing concepts for hearing aids and hearing implants are being further developed, as is assistive technology for everyone - i.e. the hearing aid in every smartphone, television or car radio. The research work is focussed on improving speech comprehension in noise. The cluster of excellence has already met with great international interest right from the start. "The reputation of hearing research in Lower Saxony is already very strong internationally. I am looking forward to the new research impetus that will be provided by the Hearing4all cluster of excellence," emphasised conference participant Prof. Dr Dr Christoph Schreiner from the University of California in San Francisco. The new cluster of excellence is headed by Oldenburg physicist and physician Prof. Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier (spokesperson) and ENT specialist Prof. Prof. h. c. Dr Thomas Lenarz (deputy spokesperson) from Hannover Medical School. In addition to the three universities, the Jade University of Applied Sciences, the HörTech Center of Competence, the Fraunhofer Project Group for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, the Hanover and Oldenburg Hearing Centres, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. and the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst are also involved. The expertise of Lower Saxony's institutions in the field of hearing is pooled in the Auditory Valley research network. The aim is to develop innovative solutions for better hearing in co-operation with leading industrial companies in the sector. www. hearing4all.de