title: Additivity of nonsimultaneous masking for short Gaussian-shaped sinusoids.
abstract: The additivity of nonsimultaneous masking was studied using Gaussian-shaped tone pulses (referred to as Gaussians) as masker and target stimuli. Combinations of up to four temporally separated Gaussian maskers with an equivalent rectangular bandwidth of 600 Hz and an equivalent rectangular duration of 1.7 ms were tested. Each masker was level-adjusted to produce approximately 8 dB of masking. Excess masking (exceeding linear additivity) was generally stronger than reported in the literature for longer maskers and comparable target levels. A model incorporating a compressive input/output function, followed by a linear summation stage, underestimated excess masking when using an input/output function derived from literature data for longer maskers and comparable target levels. The data could be predicted with a more compressive input/output function. Stronger compression may be explained by assuming that the Gaussian stimuli were too short to evoke the medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR), whereas for longer maskers tested previously the MOCR caused reduced compression. Overall, the interpretation of the data suggests strong basilar membrane compression for very short stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. Bernhard.Laback@oeaw.ac.at
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laback
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balazs
authors.forename: Thibaud
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Necciari
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savel
authors.forename: Solvi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ystad
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meunier
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kronland-Martinet
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013997:Time Factors