The punk pop band Simple Plan and audio specialist Sennheiser are inviting some very special guests to the Canadian band´s Berlin concert today: hearing-impaired teenagers who will be able to enjoy the music just as much as those with normal hearing - and for some of them it will be their first ever concert experience. It is all being made possible by a so-called FM system from Sennheiser, Mikroport 2015, that transmits the music directly to a hearing aid or the speech processor of a cochlear implant.

Simple Plan is one of Canada´s most popular bands, and the punk pop rockers´ concerts draw thousands of fans. They had already invited severely hearing-impaired teenagers to the Canadian concerts of their North American tour. Sennheiser Canada and local hearing aid specialists equipped the young fans with a Mikroport 2015 system.

Professional Systems
A pop concert is no fun for someone with a severe hearing disability. The sounds all merge together into a distorted noise, and simply making the music louder doesn´t help. The Mikroport 2015 system, on the other hand, picks up the music directly from the mixing console and a transmitter then sends it straight to a receiver worn by the hearing-impaired person. For those wearing a hearing aid, the receiver automatically adjusts the hearing aid microphone, allowing the transmitted music signal to be heard loud and clear above all the surrounding noise. For cochlear implants, the sound is transmitted directly to the speech processor without interference from ambient noise. The systems are set up on location by hearing aid specialists Flemming & Klingbeil. The Canadian kids thought it was "real cool" that the Mikroport 2015 system uses the same professional UHF technology as the musicians´ own microphones and monitoring systems.

One of the greatest gifts
Speaking about the project, Simple Plan said: "We´ve had a very special relationship with Sennheiser for years now and we use Sennheiser equipment both on stage and in the studio. When the company approached us with the concert idea, we agreed right away. Music has brought so much to our lives. Music is our passion and our love. To give someone the chance to hear music properly for the first time is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Just think what an unforgettable experience it must be to listen to music for the first time ever, to be among thousands of fans and enjoy a rock concert, to hear the crowd screaming and to feel the power of a live performance."

"We are extremely proud to partner with Sennheiser in this awesome project. It´s been a real joy to get to know the kids before the show. To talk to them and to see the huge smiles on their faces. To read their emails afterwards, where they write about how overwhelmed they were by the whole experience. It made us realize that sometimes we take a lot of things for granted. We should learn to appreciate what we have a lot more. A big thank you to Sennheiser for including us in this project - and very special thanks to all the kids we´ve met so far on this tour."

After their concert in Berlin on January 27, Simple Plan will be playing in Cologne on January 28 and in Hamburg on January 29, after which they travel to Austria for their concert in Vienna on February 1.

More about Simple Plan
The Montreal-based punk pop quintet Simple Plan was formed in 1999 with the line-up Pierre Bouvier (vocals), Chuck Comeau (drums), David Desrosiers (bass), Sebastien Lefebvre (guitar) and Jeff Stinco (guitar). The band had their first major concert during the Warped Tour, an unmissable event for all punk fans. But the band´s 2002 debut album surprisingly moved in a more pop direction, giving them their first major commercial success. The five were promptly nominated for "Best New Artist" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2003 and 2004, the band won the MuchMusic People´s Choice Award. This was followed in 2005 by the title of "Best Rock Band" at the Teen Choice Awards and "Favorite Pop Act" at the MTV Asia Awards.

More about Sennheiser FM systems
A Sennheiser FM system has the effect of "shortening the distance" between the speaker - in this case the musicians - and the hearing-impaired listener. The sound no longer has to spread out throughout the entire room but is picked up directly at the speaker (for example a teacher) by a small microphone and is then transmitted by RF technology to a small receiver worn by the listener. The receiver has a special priority circuit that lowers the sensitivity of the hearing aid microphone and gives priority to the teacher´s voice. As a result, speech is heard loud and clear with no disturbing interference from ambient noise. When no signal is being received from the transmitter, the hearing aid microphone is automatically returned to its normal level of sensitivity.

As one of the world´s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems, the Sennheiser Group with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, had total sales of about €262 million in 2004. The export share is 83%. Sennheiser has a total workforce of more than 1,600 employees, of whom about 60% are employed in Germany. Sennheiser is active worldwide and, in addition to other partnerships, has its own sales subsidiaries in France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and the USA.

For further information about Sennheiser please visit us on the Internet at http://www.sennheiser.com/ or contact:

Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG  
Press and PR - Edelgard Marquardt  
Am Labor 1 - 30900 Wedemark - Germany 
Fon: +49 (5130) 600-329   
Fax: +49 (5130) 600-295   
E-Mail: marquare@sennheiser.com  

fischerAppelt Kommunikation
Manuela Bergmann
Waterloohain 5 - 22769 Hamburg
Fon: +49 (40) 899 699-750
Fax: +49 (40) 899 699-30
E-Mail: mab@fischerappelt.de