Academic Background

2016: Bachelor of Music in Church Music (main subjects: organ and conducting) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig and the Musikhochschule Lübeck.

2019: Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Vienna

2021: Master of Science in Psychology (Mind and Brain master’s program) at the University of Vienna

Since 2021: PhD candidate in Natural Sciences in the field of Psychology at the University of Vienna: “Harmony perception with cochlear implant listeners”

Current Research

Marie-Luise Augsten investigates the perception of musical harmony in cochlear implant (CI) listeners. Speech perception is mostly preserved well in electric hearing, at least in quiet listening conditions. However, larger deficits exist in the domain of music, for example, in the discrimination of harmonies. Regarding their spectral structure, harmonies are considerably more complex than single tones or speech and are thus more strongly affected by the technical constraints of the implant.
In her dissertation project, Marie-Luise Augsten investigates whether an adaptation of specific (sound-related) parameters, for example, the reduction of spectral complexity (in contrast to, for instance, natural sounds like the piano), can improve perception but also understanding of harmonies, that is, the cognitive integration of single harmonies to an overall impression).

To conduct this work, she received a two-year DOC Fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.