Physicists at the University of Oldenburg have offered sound level meters and disco hearing protectors to the best physics graduates in the Oldenburg region. They want to draw attention to their "Komm her - forsch mit" campaign, in which scientific mini-jobs for four semesters are awarded to particularly committed first-year physics students. Each school can nominate one prize winner. The prizes for the best physics graduates will be awarded during the graduation ceremonies.

There are many original prizes on offer, which refer to the various research focuses at the Institute of Physics. For example, there are prizes on the subject of renewable energies, such as a solar-powered mobile phone charger, a fuel cell model car or non-fiction book prizes on current physics topics. A high-tech laser pointer, for example, is up for grabs in the field of nano-optics.
Many awards are related to acoustics and signal processing. Some are for hearing protection, which could be used during the deafening "vuvuzuela noise" of live public broadcasts of the football World Cup. "Successful high school graduates can look forward to a calibrated mini sound level meter, which they can use to reliably measure when the noise limit of 85 dB (A) for harmful noise is exceeded," says Prof Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier, hearing researcher and initiator of the campaign. "Others will receive high-tech earphones with active noise insulation or customised hearing protection for the disco or for musicians. In this way, we want to show how hearing research can also offer concrete help for everyday life".
The first sound level meter was recently presented to school leaver Markus Prinzler from the upper secondary school centre in Bremen. "We don't know whether he used the sound level meter to measure the strength of the applause at the graduation ceremony," says Kollmeier.