Some time ago, I sat in the office and noticed an annoying hissing sound. I could not determine the source of this sound. My office mate was completely unaware of and unbothered by the sound until I asked him about it. He then drank from his thermos bottle and the sound vanished. Even though we sat in the same room with the same hissing thermos bottle sound, only I was bothered by it. Hence, whether noises, such as the hissing sound, are perceived as annoying is highly dependent on the individual and cannot be derived from the physical properties of the sound.

In my PhD project, I am investigating the brain activity that is related to this individual noise processing. Most auditory research is conducted in well-controlled laboratory settings. However, the quantification of noise processing in everyday situations, such as the outlined office day scenario, requires beyond-the-lab recordings. Therefore, I am using unobtrusive, mobile Electroencephalography (EEG) technology, such as ear-EEG (cEEGrid). Coupled with a smartphone for data recording and stimulus presentation, this setup allows to record brain activity in everyday life scenarios for several hours. The wearers have only minimal restrictions and can follow their daily activities. By relating their brain activity to naturally occurring or presented noise, I can improve our understanding of real-world noise processing.

Since April 2020

PhD student at the Neuropsychology Lab under supervision of Dr. Martin Bleichner

2017 – 2020

M.Sc. Neurocognitive Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Germany

2013 – 2017

B.Sc. Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Freiburg, Germany