20.02.2026

At TU Ilmenau: pupils dive into the world of inventors with MP3 pioneer Karlheinz Brandenburg

Nahaufnahme Prof. Brandenburg mit KopfhörernDominique Wollniok
Prof. Karlheinz Brandenburg with Deep Dive audio technology

"Pupils immerse themselves in the world of inventors" - this is the motto of a day at TU Ilmenau for 15 pupils in Years 11 and 12 at Erfurt's Albert Schweitzer Grammar School. Between 10 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. on February 26, they will find out why studying and working in the STEM disciplines of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology is exciting. They will be inspired by the patron of the project day Karlheinz Brandenburg, senior professor at TU Ilmenau and co-inventor of the mp3 format for compressing audio signals, which has conquered the world. The project day is initiated and supported by the European Patent Office and its European Inventors Network. Representatives of the media are cordially invited to report on the event. It will take place in the media laboratory at TU Ilmenau, Am Helmholtzring 9.

How is an invention created - and what does it take for a career in technology? At the end of a very special project day at the TU Ilmenau, the pupils of the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium in Erfurt will know the answers.
 

Inspiration from mp3 co-inventor Karlheinz Brandenburg

Rarely does an invention from Germany conquer the world. In the case of the compression of sound signals, it has succeeded: mp3 is now known around the world. The co-inventor of this groundbreaking technology, Karlheinz Brandenburg, will tell the students about his work on audio coding. He himself conducted research at TU Ilmenau for a long time and founded Brandenburg Labs in 2019, which today develops immersive 3D audio technologies for the global market.
 

Guided tours of research laboratories - technology you can touch ... and listen to

Viel Leute im Hörlabor der TU IlmenauFlorian Klein
The hearing lab at TU Ilmenau

After being inspired by Professor Brandenburg, the students experience an impressive demonstration of Deep Dive Audio, a high-precision audio technology from Brandenburg Labs that reproduces virtual sound sources via headphones so realistically that they are almost indistinguishable from real sources.

Afterwards, the pupils will get to know TU Ilmenau's listening lab, audio lab and media lab, where students normally attend lectures and scientists at the university conduct research. At the end of the project day, the young people are given the opportunity to assemble the small electronic musical instrument Theremin themselves.

The event "Pupils immerse themselves in the world of inventors" is an initiative of the European Patent Office and its European Inventor Network, which aims to inspire children and young people for STEM subjects and promote their entrepreneurial thinking by awarding the European Inventor Award. In 2006, Karlheinz Brandenburg was nominated as Inventor of the Year in the Lifetime Achievement category and is therefore a member of the network.

 

Contact 

Prof. Karlheinz Brandenburg
Senior Professor TU Ilmenau
+49 3677 69-2676
karlheinz.brandenburg@tu-ilmenau.de