An empirical evaluation of the effects of high-pass noise on the whole-nerve action potential.
A number of methods are presented for evaluating the effect of high-pass noise on the whole-nerve action potential (AP). These methods include measurements of AP thresholds, amplitude-versus-level functions, decrement in AP amplitude-versus-masker level functions, and AP tuning curves. Examinations of threshold shifts as a function of tone-burst frequency and AP amplitude-versus-level with and without the presentation of high-pass noise indicate that basal portions of the cochlear partition can be masked effectively. Decrement in AP amplitude-versus-masker level functions and subsequently constructed AP tuning curves were used to verify that the presentation of high-pass noise did not alter the frequency response of that region of the basilar membrane responding to a 4000-Hz tone-burst probe. As a result, we conclude that high-pass noise may be used to mask the response from remote regions of the cochlea without altering response characteristics from lower frequency regions.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D002415:Cats; D003051:Cochlea / Q000294:innervation; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D009622:Noise; D000159:Vestibulocochlear Nerve / Q000502:physiology