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Published on: February 10, 2016
Forward-masked monaural and interaural intensity discrimination.
Mark A Stellmack1, Neal F Viemeister, Andrew J Byrne
1Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. stell006@umn.edu
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|October 12, 2007
Summary
Forward maskers significantly impair auditory intensity discrimination in one ear, but not when signals are presented to opposite ears. This suggests early auditory processing is not the sole cause of forward masking effects.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Forward masking is a phenomenon where a preceding sound impairs the detection of a subsequent sound.
- Understanding the mechanisms of forward masking is crucial for diagnosing auditory processing disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of a forward masker on intensity-discrimination thresholds.
- To compare monaural and binaural (interaural) forward masking effects.
- To evaluate the role of early auditory processing in forward masking.
Main Methods:
- Intensity-discrimination thresholds for a 6-kHz pure tone were measured at various sound pressure levels (SPL).
- A forward masker (narrowband Gaussian noise) was presented before the probe tone.
- Thresholds were measured using both monaural (two-interval) and interaural (single-interval) procedures.
Main Results:
- Monaural thresholds were significantly elevated by the forward masker, especially at mid-level pedestal levels.
- Interaural thresholds showed minimal effect from the forward masker across all tested pedestal levels.
- The masker-probe separation was 100 ms of silence.
Conclusions:
- The minimal impact of forward masking on interaural thresholds challenges theories attributing monaural masking solely to early auditory system degradation.
- Auditory processing in the contralateral ear may play a role in mitigating forward masking effects.
- These findings necessitate a re-evaluation of current models of auditory intensity discrimination under masking conditions.
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