Dr Jan Rennies-Hochmuth has been appointed professor of Hearing-, Speech- and Neurotechnology at the Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics as part of a joint process between the University of Oldenburg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT). The physicist and hearing researcher is also head of the Personalized Hearing Systems research group at the Oldenburg Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology (HSA) of Fraunhofer IDMT.

Interrupted by a research stay at Boston University (USA) in 2017/2018, Rennies-Hochmuth has headed the research group at Fraunhofer IDMT since 2012. He previously completed his Bachelor's and Master's degree in Engineering Physics at the University of Oldenburg, where he also gained his doctorate and habilitated in 2023. In his research, Rennies-Hochmuth investigates the relationships between sound waves, their perception by humans and technologies to improve speech and audio perception. Among other things, his work aims to help people with and without hearing impairments to hear better individually and to improve sound comfort in cars or when using audio devices. Rennies-Hochmuth received the Lothar Cremer Prize from the German Society for Acoustics for his work in 2016.