Looking back at more than 20 years of conference presentations (2002–2024), I have selected the five that were the most memorable to me. Coming in at number five is my presentation at SFA/DAGA’04 in Strasbourg, 2004.
At that time, I was working for a German car manufacturer, where my main challenge was to identify the physical parameters of engine sounds that could convey a “sporty” impression. Conventional psychoacoustical parameters, however, did not correspond well with that perception. I also felt dissatisfied with traditional engine order analysis, since people do not respond only to rpm behavior but also to temporal characteristics of the sound.
This led me to introduce a new parameter, which I named “Frequency Dynamic.” It describes how frequency changes over time and is based on short-time FFT analysis. This concept later became the foundation of much of my subsequent work, both in sound quality evaluation and in automotive sound design. The name Frequency Dynamic was actually suggested by Dr. Reinhard Weber at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, who—together with Prof. Mellert—greatly influenced my perspective on psychoacoustics. I remain grateful for their guidance.
Another unforgettable part of that conference was meeting Mr. Patrick Boussard of Genesis (now Ansys Sound). He introduced me to a piece of software that turned out to be a true “magic wand” in my research. It allowed me to accelerate both sound quality analysis and Active Sound Design within vehicles. Thank you, Patrick, for giving “magic wand” for me.
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