Linearized response growth inferred from growth-of-masking slopes in ears with cochlear hearing loss

Growth of masking for OFF-frequency conditions (probe frequency above the masker spectrum) and ON-frequency conditions (probe within the masker spectrum) was investigated using simultaneous masking in three subjects with normal hearing and nine subjects with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Growth-of-masking functions (probe thresholds as a function of masker intensity) for OFF-frequency conditions were obtained for probe tones placed at six frequencies above a 200-Hz-wide masker with an upper edge at 520 Hz. Growth-of-masking functions for ON-frequency conditions were obtained for probe tones placed within the 200-Hz-wide masker and for probe tones placed within 400-Hz-wide maskers with upper edges at 1040, 1300, 1627, and 2040 Hz (probe tones placed 20 Hz below the upper edge frequency). Growth-of-masking functions were fit with a power function of masker intensity added to an internal noise with intensity equal to the absolute threshold for the probe, and were well described by two free parameters and a threshold constant: the growth-of-masking slope (beta), a masking sensitivity constant (kappa) that indicated the minimum effective masker level at which masking began, and the intensity of the probe at absolute threshold (IT). For OFF-frequency masking conditions, growth-of-masking slopes (beta) decreased by a factor of 0.8 for every 10 dB of hearing loss. Comparisons with data from previous studies of upward spread of masking, and assumptions about underlying physiological mechanisms, led to the conclusion that more gradual than normal growth-of-masking slopes reflect larger (steeper) growth-of-response slopes at the probe frequency in regions of hearing loss. Derived response-growth exponents increased by a factor of 1.2 for every 10 dB of hearing loss (HL), from an exponent around 0.25 at 0 dB HL to an exponent around 1.0 at 75 dB HL (linear response growth). Masking sensitivity constants (kappa), the minimum effective masker levels, indicated that masking began at slightly higher masker levels in subjects with sensorineural hearing loss than in subjects with normal hearing. It was concluded that higher masked thresholds in regions of hearing loss were due primarily to a loss of active gain at the probe frequency and were not due to an excessive response at the probe frequency to the lower-frequency masker. For ON-frequency masking conditions, growth-of-masking slopes were not different from normal in hearing-impaired subjects. ON-frequency masking began when the effective power within an auditory filter at the probe frequency reached elevated absolute threshold at the probe frequency. Critical ratios were normal except for one subject with the most hearing loss.