M. Sc. Mona Stölting

	M. Sc. Mona Stölting Room: C-01.013 (ZEVS) Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany Phone: +49 431 880-6946 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Scientific Coordinator CRC 1261

The objectives of the CRC 1261: Biomagnetic Sensing are the research and development of different magnetoelectric sensor concepts with a special focus on high sensitivity at biomagnetic frequencies and their evaluation and application in medicine. As scientific coordinator, Mona plans and organizes CRC events like retreats, field trips and monthly colloquia. She is also responsible for the Integrated Research Training Group (IRTG) of the CRC. This includes organization of IRTG workshops and courses, the financial coordination of the IRTG and evaluation of research and qualification plans.

Short CV

Time span	Details
2021 - current	Scientific Coordinator CRC 1261
2019 - 2021	Maternity leave
2017 - 2019	Researcher at Kiel University
2015 - 2017	M. Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering, Kiel University
2015	Internship at Element 22, Kiel
2012 - 2015	B. Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering, Kiel University

We are delighted to announce that Marten Finck has been awarded the GaS prize for his Master's thesis on "Evaluation of Speech Quality Using Machine Learning".

In his work, he investigated possible side effects of magnetic resonance-guided focussed ultrasound treatment (MRgFUS) on speech quality in patients with neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. This innovative and non-invasive treatment method is used to reduce tremor, i.e. the shaking of limbs.

To evaluate the effects on speech, pre- and post-operative speech recordings of 56 patients were analysed: Speech quality was assessed in five categories (monotony, clarity, fluency, auditory effort and vocal tremor) through a survey with 21 participants and used to create a convolutional neural network (CNN). This generates an objective assessment of speech quality using mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), fundamental frequency and loudness. A mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.81 on a scale of 0 to 10 was achieved, compared to a standard deviation of 0.67 for the survey participants compared to a reference assessment. The evaluation of the survey revealed minor positive and negative changes in speech quality, which were balanced overall and tended to indicate natural speech variations in connection with the patients' underlying illnesses.

Congratulations on this well-deserved honour!