Jörg Sennheiser will present the 36th Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture during the 142nd Convention
The Technical Council is pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser will present the 36th Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture during the 142nd Convention. Jörg Sennheiser became Sennheiser’s director of technology in 1976 before taking over management of the family business in 1982. He recently handed over the chairmanship to a successor. His many years of experience in the electroacoustics business, particularly in bringing digital technology to bear on the product range, will provide an interesting backdrop to his presentation.
Summary
The foundations of human audio perception, based on the "natural laws“ of human hearing and their relative validity, will be be revisited at the outset. The interdependence of hearing with other human senses will be outlined, showing the high degree of subjectivity and uncertainty of our audio perception. Keeping this in mind, the evolution of audio capturing, processing and reproduction by technical means will be discussed. The achievable hearing pleasure and the audio quality level is reflected in the continuous development from single- to multi-channel reproduction systems with loudspeakers and headphones, benchmarked against “sonic reality”. The need for more emotionality in the hearing experience – especially together with visual presentations – leads to a requirement for new approaches and solutions throughout the workflow in the entertainment world and entertainment industry. Optimized solutions for capturing sound with action-cameras or smartphones are evolving, with prototypes and first products being already available and undergoing stringent end-user tests. Audio-visual presentations of sports events on TV call for the development of suitable high-quality audio formats in line with an individual choice of video perspective. The rapidly evolving field of gaming, augmented-reality (AR) and virtual-reality (VR) calls for “immersive” audio technologies currently under consideration. Multiple stakeholders in this market segment—from producers and development engineers to end-users—have to work together to imagine and design The Future of Audio.
Biography
After studying electrical engineering at the University of Hanover and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in Zurich, Jörg Sennheiser completed his doctorate at the ETHZ Institute of Telecommunications Engineering. He was awarded the degree of Dr. sc. techn. in 1973 for his thesis on “Sound radiation from thin sheet metals”. Jörg Sennheiser’s career began as a project engineer with Siemens-Albis AG in Zurich, prior to taking up his first post with Sennheiser electronic in 1976 as Technical Director. In 1982, he took over management of the family business as executive shareholder. During his time at the helm, Sennheiser developed into an internationally successful brand. This involved establishing new manufacturing facilities in Ireland and the USA, while at the same time expanding production in Germany. In 2015, after 19 years in the role, Prof. Dr. Sennheiser handed over the chair of the supervisory board to Dr. Frank Heinricht. In addition to his work for the company, Prof. Sennheiser also taught electro-acoustics at the University of Hanover until 2004, and was made an honorary professor in 1991.
