Christoph S. Herrmann

Prof. Dr. Christoph S. Herrmann serves as Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany, specializing in cognitive neuropsychology. His research focuses on neural mechanisms underlying auditory perception and speech processing, with particular emphasis on cortical entrainment phenomena. Collaborating with Dr. Anna Wilsch, he leads investigations into how brain oscillations interact with speech signals.

His primary research interests center on auditory neuroscience and neural oscillation dynamics, specifically examining how theta-frequency (4-8 Hz) brain rhythms entrain to speech envelopes. This work explores the causal relationship between cortical entrainment strength and speech intelligibility, particularly in noisy environments. His laboratory employs transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to externally modulate neural oscillations and measure resulting perceptual changes, demonstrating that precisely timed electrical stimulation can sinusoidally enhance or disrupt speech comprehension.

Dr. Herrmann's team operates within the Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, utilizing the institute's Brain PIE Lab facilities for neural stimulation and behavioral testing. Their methodology combines psychophysics with neuromodulation techniques to establish causal links between neural oscillations and perceptual outcomes. Current work investigates how temporal alignment between speech envelopes and tACS waveforms affects cortical entrainment efficiency.