Oldenburg. Steffen Kortlang, a member of the Medical Physics Department at the University of Oldenburg, won the 3rd Oldenburg "Science Slam". The event organised by the Graduate School of Science and Technology and the Research Centre Neurosensory Science took place in cooperation with the Oldenburg State Theatre on 22 May 2013 in the Exerzierhalle at Oldenburg's Pferdemarkt.

This time, the young scientists Sebastian Menze (AWI Bremerhaven) and Sara Jonkers (Dutch Studies), Stefanie Enriquez-Geppert (Psychology) and Steffen Kortlang (Medical Physics) from the University of Oldenburg took part in the "Science Slam". They had the task of explaining their field of research to a lay audience in 10 minutes in an entertaining way and getting them excited about their work.

In the end, the audience chose Steffen Kortlang as the winner and awarded him the "golden brain" for his presentation on sensorineural hearing loss in humanoid and extraterrestrial life forms. The prizewinner wowed the audience with his alien "Hör-nicht-gut" from the planet "Ohr-ion", which was plagued by sensorineural hearing loss and sought the help of Oldenburg hearing research. Using sound examples, he demonstrated various aspects of psychoacoustics and clearly showed how hearing impairments can be diagnosed: By comparing the data from hearing tests with a computer model of the auditory system, it was possible to uncover damage to the inner hair cells, the sensory cells in the inner ear that are responsible for transforming mechanical vibrations into neuronal patterns, in his alien.

[07.06.2013]