About

I joined the Music Perception Lab in 2022 as a research assistant, an experience that sparked my interest in the cognitive processes underlying music perception and led me toward research on how we listen to and experience music. During my Master’s studies, I explored these questions further in my thesis which was supervised by Kai Siedenburg and addressed selective listening abilities in music across naturalistic and controlled environments, with a particular focus on the Golden Ear Challenge, an interactive series of concert experiments. Building on this work, I have continued my research as a PhD student in the lab since 2026, focusing on individual differences and hearing profiles in music perception in concert settings.
My background in music education and musicology, together with research experience across different areas of psychology, has shaped my broader interests in musical development and in how musical engagement may influence well-being across the lifespan. Beyond my academic work, music has always been an important part of my life. I sing in vocal ensembles and as a solo singer performing classical music, jazz, pop and rock and I also enjoy playing the saxophone, piano, and guitar. Being actively involved in music-making gives me a personal perspective on concert experiences and strongly shapes my interest in understanding how we experience music and how musical processes unfold in different performance contexts.
 

Research Interests

• Musical development and education
• Individual differences in music perception and cognition
• Concert research 

Education 

• M. A. Music Studies, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Jul 2026
• M. Ed. (Gymnasium) Music & English, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Jul 2026
• B. A. Music & English, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Apr 2023
   

Publications

Schurig, E., Hake, R., Birke, M., Derks, D., Siedenburg, K. & Kreutz, G. (2024). Hearing health literacy among professional and amateur musicians. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 28441. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79875-1
 

Bürgel, M., Mencke, I., Benjamin, A., Dechert, M., Derks, D., Gerdes, K., Hake, R., Jacobsen, S. & Siedenburg, K. (2023). Unifying concert research and science outreach. Musicae Scientiae, 28(1), 187–191. doi.org/10.1177/10298649231182078