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From an office trailer to
international recognition!
In 1996, our organization
was founded by Prof. Dr. Dr. Kollmeier from the Carl von
Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and the Protestant Hospital (Evangelisches Krankenhaus) in
Oldenburg. Today, it is a model for transferring technology
between university research and the industry. Notable companies such
as Siemens, GN ReSound, Phonak, AudioService, Sennheiser and Kind are
among our international clients.
In the very beginning, 4
Hörzentrum members rented an office trailer located on the
university campus in Oldenburg. On June 12, a total of 220 guests
witnessed the official take-off at a ceremony in the university's
auditorium. With no more and no less than cooperative support from
the Department of Medical Physics at the University of Oldenburg, the
Hörzentrum launched 11 projects during its first year. The
majority encompassed hearing aid field tests or basic research and
development endeavors. We enabled the testing of industry prototypes
with persons suffering from substantial hearing loss in controlled
and realistic conditions. In this manner, the industry gained
valuable information about how well their most modern devices
perform. The insight we elicited was exclusively for clients, but
occasionally it was published on request. To our fortune, this lead to the emergence
of an unofficial seal of quality: "Tested by Hörzentrum
Oldenburg".
In its second year, the Hörzentrum
opened a new department "Patient Care", now called
"Medical and Audiological Care". Two services were offered
in cooperation with the Protestant Hospital (Evangelisches Krankenhaus) in Oldenburg:
audiological consultation and hearing aid consulting services. The number of
hearing impaired patients interested in modern hearing diagnostics
grew, and they appreciated our services carried out by an
interdisciplinary team of ENT medicine, phoniatrics / pedaudiology,
hearing aid acoustics and audiology specialists. Although
repeatedly attempted, the Hörzentrum and health insurance
companies unfortunately did not manage to gain funding from state
health insurance companies for our services. However, the patients
were still willing to pay privately and in 1999, our consultation
hours were moved to the Protestant Hospital (Evangelisches Krankenhaus) due to lack of space.
In 1999, the Hörzentrum began offering its third service,
"Advanced Training". Numerous two-day seminars were offered
on topics such as "Digital Hearing Aids" and "Modern
Audiological Measurement Methods" just to name a couple.
During all this time, the Hörzentrum expanded slowly yet
steadily. By 1999-2000, the largest project ever launched by our
organization was started. Together with the University of Oldenburg,
we applied to a competition announced by the Federal Ministry for
Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und
Forschung; BMBF). We proposed establishing the HörTech Center of Competence. Moreover, we planned to have new facilities
constructed. The HörTech application was successful and proudly
it was one of 8 national winners in 2000. By now and especially due
to newly created jobs, we suffered from a shortage of space and
we truly required fast action. Even the Hörzentrum alone needed more
workspace than the trailer could ever offer. As the hearing
research conducted in Oldenburg developed over the years, we thought
it would be highly effective to have all cooperating institutions
under one roof. Both the Hörzentrum and the state government of
Lower Saxony each financed half of the necessary construction fees of
2.2 million Euros. After the foundation stone was laid on August 10,
2001, the official inauguration was celebrated at Marie-Curie-Str. 2 on
September 20, 2002.
Today, 15 specialists in physics,
audiology, hearing aid acoustics, ENT medicine and information
technology work at the Hörzentrum. Together they evaluate and
optimize hearing aid technology on behalf of industries, or they the
judge marketing campaigns launched by the hearing aid industry. We do
not only cater to clients from Germany, but also from Scandinavia,
Switzerland and the United States. Moreover, we have started
developing audiological test procedures with the University of
Oldenburg. Among our models are the "Oldenburg Sentence
Test" (Oldenburger Satztest; olsa) and the "Oldenburg Rhyme
Test for Children" (Oldenburger Kinder-Reimtest; olki). Since
August 2002, the HörTech Center of Competence has taken over
this task.
Working with patients remains one of our main
concerns. We offer regular consultation hours and make competent
diagnoses on the basis of modern technology. Advanced training for
doctors, hearing aid acousticians, audiologists and manufacturers is being offered since 2003 in cooperation with the
HörTech Center of Competence. As the initiator and constructor of the Haus des
Hörens, which joins diverse Oldenburg
institutions for hearing research, the Hörzentrum coordinates the most
important activities we engage in. The Haus des Hörens
made a vision become reality: A European center for hearing research
combining basic research with the development and adjustment of
hearing aids. It is a place where institutions are united to benefit
the hearing impaired.
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