Research for the "digital ear" of the future: EU project "Listen2Future" starts at Infineon

Led by Infineon Austria, the European research project "Listen2Future" started with 27 partners from 7 countries to develop new and smallest microphone and ultrasound sensors for examinations in industry and medicine. Precise mini hearing aids, fast infection controls for infants or wearable ultrasound patches become possible. Medical care, healthy aging, energy security and product quality are fundamental issues for our society. As sensory organs of technology, tiny sensors such as microphones and ultrasonic sensors play an important role in this. As a "digital ear", they record acoustic signals and allow rapid investigations. The research of "Listen2Future" will significantly improve the performance of existing systems and also produce completely new solutions that benefit society, people and health. Digital innovations for industry and medicine The aim is to bring the smallest micro-electro-mechanical sensors, or "MEMS sensors" for short, into high volume production at globally competitive costs and make them available for a wide range of applications for industry and medicine. The research will yield higher image resolutions in ultrasound probes, robust mini-hearing aids with first-class sound quality and low energy consumption. The focus will also be on wearable ultrasound patches for early detection of heart disease, for example, and ultrasound devices for rapid...