junge DEGA Herbstworkshop 2023 in Aachen

From 17^th to 19^th November 2023, the “junge DEGA Herbstworkshop” (autumn workshop) took place in Aachen. Junge DEGA is a section of the German Acoustical Society (DEGA) and partner of the Young Acousticians Network (YAN) of the European Acoustics Association (EAA). Its mission is to connect students, PhDs and young professionals in the domain of acoustics. The group organizes special sessions and panel discussions during the Annual German Conference on Acoustics (DAGA), providing information on research opportunities and job entry. Furthermore, junge DEGA offers a mentoring program with active participation from industry and academia.

The workshop started on Friday afternoon with a visit of HEAD Acoustics GmbH in Kohlscheid, where the participants got insights into the company’s research and development activities and experienced some hands-on demonstrations of new products. After this first visit, three RWTH spin-offs – FEV, KLANG, elevear – reported on their experiences in business practice and illustrated different career paths in the field of acoustics. The first day concluded with a meeting of the group resuming the year’s activities and discussing the plans for the upcoming conference DAGA 2024.

On Saturday, the participants visited four laboratories at RWTH Aachen University. The day started with a welcoming tour at the Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics (IHTA) with demonstrations of the room acoustics simulation software RAVEN, experiments for audio-visual perception studies and the SCaLAr loudspeaker array. The Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika) opened the doors to their semi-anechoic climate chamber and to a broad range of tire test rigs, which are used to determine the dynamic load during tire-road contact under the influence of different road surfaces. The Experimental Behavioral Psychobiology group & Brain Imaging Facility at RWTH University hospital presented research in which specific acoustic stimuli are used during magnetic resonance imaging to better understand the auditory processing with schizophrenia. Finally, the III. Physics Institute B presented its research on a sonar- and radar-equipped melting probe which aims to penetrate the ice shield and explore the subglacial ocean of the Jovian moon Europa (TRIPLE). Another project focused on the use of acoustic measurements to calibrate the neutrino observatory IceCube.

The weekend concluded with a hands-on workshop on binaural synthesis and virtual acoustics applications (see virtualacoustics.org) at IHTA.

Thanks to all participants and supporters!