Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Suppression and the dynamic range of hearing

C J Plack¹, N F Viemeister

¹Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

|February 1, 1993

Summary

Auditory intensity discrimination can maintain a large dynamic range without spread of excitation or suppression. This study demonstrates that the auditory system achieves this by effectively masking excitation spread, even at high sound levels.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Pre-registered controlled comparison of auditory function reveals no difference between hospitalised adults with and without COVID-19.

International journal of audiology·2023

Same author

Subcortical neural synchrony and absolute thresholds predict frequency discrimination independently.

Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO·2013

Same author

Effects of masker frequency and duration in forward masking: further evidence for the influence of peripheral nonlinearity.

Hearing research·2000

Same author

Perceived continuity and pitch perception.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2000

Same author

Pitch matches between unresolved complex tones differing by a single interpulse interval.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2000

Same author

Intensity discrimination and detection of amplitude modulation in electric hearing.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2000

Area of Science:

Auditory Neuroscience
Psychoacoustics
Signal Processing

Background:

Spread of excitation was previously thought necessary for auditory dynamic range.
Simultaneous masking in prior studies may have introduced suppressive effects, confounding results.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if the auditory system can maintain a large dynamic range without spread of excitation.
To determine if suppression is a necessary mechanism for wide dynamic range in hearing.

Main Methods:

Nonsimultaneous masking of spread of excitation using a brief pedestal in a gap between masking complexes.
Measurement of detection thresholds and Weber fractions across a 70 dB range of pedestal levels at 1 and 4 kHz.

Main Results:

The masking complex effectively masked spread of excitation.
Weber fractions did not worsen at high sound levels compared to medium or low levels, despite some elevation due to masking.

Conclusions:

The auditory system can maintain a large dynamic range independently of spread of excitation.
Suppression is not a prerequisite for achieving a wide dynamic range in auditory intensity discrimination.

Related Experiment Videos