The temporal effect with notched-noise maskers: analysis in terms of input-output functions

This study examines whether a temporal masking effect may be consistent with a decrease in gain at the masker frequency during the course of the masker. Threshold level of a long-duration notched-noise masker needed to mask a 1- or 4-kHz signal was measured for three conditions: a short-duration signal with a short delay or a long delay from masker onset, and a long-duration signal. The difference between threshold for the long-delay signal and the short-delay signal was defined as the temporal effect. The size of the temporal effect depended on signal frequency, signal level, and masker notch width. Filters estimated from the data had narrower bandwidths for the long-delay condition than for the short-delay condition or the long-duration condition, which seems inconsistent with the hypothesis of a decrease in gain. However, modeling of the data in terms of basilar-membrane input-output functions is consistent with a decrease in gain in the masker frequency region during the course of the masker. For a notch width of 0.0 the results are consistent with a decrease in gain at the signal frequency. For a relative notch width of 0.4, the decrease in gain at the masker frequency may cause a decrease in the suppression of the signal. This decrease in suppression could explain the decrease in filter bandwidth with signal delay.