Temporary threshold shifts for masked pure tones. II. Broad-band masker

The amount of temporary threshold shift (TTS) measured in a particular individual is dependent on several factors. One such factor is the pre-exposure hearing level of the subject. In this study, the contribution of this factor to the measured TTS was examined in 8 normal-hearing subjects. TTS measurements were made in unmasked and masked conditions following a 4-hour exposure to noise. The masked condition was designed to simulate a flat mild hearing loss. Results indicated that TTS observed under conditions of broad-band masking was reduced as compared to TTS for the unmasked condition. The results, moreover, were consistent with the predictions of a model developed previously from earlier research with narrow-band maskers.