Temporal effects in simultaneous pure-tone masking in subjects with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss

Temporal effects in simultaneous pure-tone masking were studied in three subjects with a high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. The masker level was generally 80 dB SPL, and the signal level was varied adaptively to threshold. Masker frequency was always 1.2 times the signal frequency, and three different frequency regions were studied: (1) signal and masker in region of normal hearing; (2) signal in region of normal hearing and masker in region of hearing loss; and (3) signal and masker in region of hearing loss. In the first experiment, the masker was either gated synchronously with the 20-ms signal or was presented continuously. The gated-continuous threshold difference was largest when both the masker and signal were in a region of normal hearing; that difference decreased, though was not eliminated, when either the masker or the signal-plus-masker was in a region of hearing loss. In the second experiment, threshold was measured for the 20-ms signal as a function of its temporal position within a 400-ms masker. Consistent with the first experiment, the biggest change in masking over time generally occurred when the signal and masker were in a region of normal hearing. These data suggest that the mechanisms responsible for temporal effects in normal-hearing subjects (and in regions of normal hearing in subjects with a hearing loss) are adversely affected by (even a mild) sensorineural hearing loss. Moreover, these data suggest that what may be most important for a normal temporal effect is the integrity of the frequency region where the masker is presented.