RWTH Researcher Bernd Geiser Receives Johann Philipp Reis Award 2013

Dr.  Bernd Geiser, research associate at the Institute of Communication Systems and Data Processing at RWTH Aachen, has received the Johann Philipp Reis Award 2013. The research prize, named after one of the inventors of the telephone, Johann Philipp Reis, is awarded every two years to scientists with oustanding achievements in the field of communication technology. The prize, which is worth 10000 euros, is sponsored by VDE, the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, and the cities of Friedrichsdorf and Gelnhausen.

 

Bernd Geiser’s doctoral thesis, submitted in April 2012 to the Institute of Communication Systems and Data Processing headed by Professor Peter Vary, is titled “High Definition Telephony over Heterogeneous Networks.” As part of his dissertation, Geiser developed algorithmic approaches to improve the speech quality and intelligibility in telephone communication.

These approaches are also very efficient - one approach, for example, utilizes the hidden transmission of additional information in the digital speech signal. With the help of this information, the receiving device is able to generate additional audio frequencies and thus improve speech quality. To implement this new approach, it is not necessary to modify the existing transmission networks; only the end devices must be exchanged.

The research results are already being used in international speech transmission standards, and several international patents have been filed.

Geiser intends to develop and deliver his ideas in products and services by the company Javox Solutions GmbH, a spin-off from the Institute of Communication Systems and Data Processing.