• Volume/Page
  • Keyword
  • DOI
  • Citation
  • Advanced
   
 
 
 

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

SECTION LISTING

BROWSE VOLUMES

Year Range: 
Search Issue | RSS Feeds RSS
Previous Issue Next Issue

Apr 1985

Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S1-S108

Return to All Sections
back to top
RSS Feeds
back to top Session CC. Psychological Acoustics V: Detection, Discrimination, and Loudness Perception
Invited Paper
FREE

Some work on hearing at Goettingen (A)

Manfred R. Schroeder

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S62-S62 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The audibility of short tone pulses (5–10 ms) in a periodic masker (typical period 20 ms) depends critically on the presence of well‐formed gaps in the envelope of the masker. Furthermore, for best detection, these temporal gaps in the masker must be constant in shape for a long time (>100 ms) both before and after the tone pulse. This suggests that higher centers in the auditory pathway are able to detect and store long‐time patterns in the masker envelope against which they can test the presence of a test tone. In another study, detection thresholds of tones in chirped maskers were found to vary sensitively with the direction of the chirp (“up” or “down”). Up‐chirps whose “delay distortion” is opposite to that of the basilar membrane were found to lead to 20‐dB lower thresholds than identical down‐chirps. In binaural masking experiments we investigated the question of how fast the ear can switch binaural processing strategies and whether the binaural system can process different binaural configurations simultaneously. For sufficiently long durations of the masker (>50 ms) we found that different strategies for different signal/masker configurations are not only possible at widely separated frequency regions, but that even within the same critical band the binaural system can employ different strategies simultaneously.
Contributed Papers
FREE

Hearing thresholds at high frequencies: Results obtained using a new measurement technique (A)

Gerald Kidd, Jr., R. Berkovitz, K. N. Stevens, and David M. Green

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S62-S62 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The hearing thresholds for 40 young adults (18–26 years) were measured at 13 frequencies (8, 9,…,20 kHz) using a newly developed high‐frequency audiometer. All subjects were screened at 15‐dB hearing level at the low audiometric frequencies, had tympanometry within normal limits, and had no history of significant hearing problems. The audiometer delivered sound to the ear canal through a tube and earpiece in which a small calibrated microphone was located. For each ear, a calibration function relating sound pressure at the inner end of the ear canal to voltage at the acoustic source was calculated from an impulse recorded at the microphone. Calibration functions for different ears extended over a range of 15 dB at some frequencies. For some subjects cross modes in the ear canal prevented accurate calibration at the highest frequencies. Most high‐frequency audiograms exhibited a sharply sloping increase in threshold. The location in frequency of this abrupt increase in threshold differed considerably among different subjects and appeared to provide the best characterization of an individuals's high‐frequency hearing. [Supported by a contract from NINCDS.]
FREE

Within‐subject repeatability of high‐frequency thresholds (A)

Keiko Imaoka and John K. Cullen

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S62-S63 (1985); (2 pages)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Reliability of high‐frequency thresholds was studied in normal‐hearing listeners ranging in age from 20–48 years. Using the PEST (Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing) procedure, coupler‐referenced thresholds were measured in ten subjects at frequencies 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, and 14 kHz using circumaural earphones. Ten replicates of the measurements were made in all subjects over several weeks. The results indicate a general tendency for standard deviations of thresholds to increase as a function of stimulus frequency in all subjects. Nevertheless, the standard deviations did not exceed 4.0 dB in any of the subjects, suggesting high‐frequency thresholds can be reliably obtained within subject, at least up to 14 kHz. Our findings are in disagreement with earlier results [E. A. G. Shaw, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 46, 1502–1514 (1969)] which indicated that threshold variability is disproportionately high above 12 kHz in comparison with that below 12 kHz. [Work supported by the EENT Foundation of Louisiana.]
FREE

Adaptation to low‐level tonal stimuli (A)

R. C. Bilger, M. L. Matthies, and A. E. Carney

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Adaptation to low‐level, continuous tones has been measured via magnitude estimation, loudness balancing, and subjective report with varying degrees of success. We needed an efficient procedure for measuring adaptation in subjects with tinnitus because of our use of long‐duration signals in the study of tinnitus. A double‐staircase procedure was used to obtain bifrequency loudness matches between a 1000‐Hz reference and a 4000‐Hz exposure (adaptation) tone for normal‐hearing young adults at 10–50 dB SL. Loudness matches were made twice before, during, and after a continuous 10‐min exposure. Data blocks where the sound pressure level of the exposure was instrumentally increased or decreased were used for training and as a check on the procedure. The means of the 70% and 30% positions on the psychometric functions were used to estimate the loudness of the 1000‐Hz standard. Approximately 2 1/2 min were needed to collect 84 trials for this calculation. Pilot data indicated that the procedure was sensitive to sound pressure level changes and to loudness adaptation of the 4000‐Hz tone. [Work supported by grant NS‐17273.]
FREE

Relationship of auditory threshold to on‐time and off‐time (A)

I. M. Young and L. D. Lowry

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The effect of varying the on‐time and off‐time of interrupted pure tones on threshold of Bekesy tracings was discussed for subjects showing sensorineural hearing loss with abnormal adaptation. In the majority of subjects, with a fixed long on‐time, threshold increased as the off‐time was shortened. When the off‐time was shorter than a critical value, threshold approached that for continuous tones. There was insignificant change in threshold when the on‐time was varied with a fixed long off‐time. However, some subjects showing abnormal adaptation demonstrated no observable change in threshold as the off‐time was shortened with a fixed on‐time. In the differential diagnosis of these cases, organic hearing loss due to multiple sclerosis or some other unknown causes and nonorganic hearing loss should be considered. Above finding was compared and discussed with other audiological test results obtained in these cases.
FREE

Effect of number of components and spectral uncertainty on masking by multicomponent maskers (A)

Donna L. Neff, Thomas E. Hanna, and David M. Green

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Thresholds for sinusoidal signals at 250, 1000, or 4000 Hz were measured in the presence of multicomponent maskers for three listeners with normal hearing. Masker and signal were 200 ms, presented simultaneously. Within a block of trials, the number of sinusoidal components in the masker was fixed, but the frequencies of the components were drawn at random from a range of 1–5000 Hz (excluding the signal frequency). Different drawings were used for each of the two listening intervals. The spectral content of the maskers therefore varied both within and between trials. Phase and amplitude of each masker component was randomized. Maskers with small numbers of components (10 or less) often produced larger amounts of masking than maskers with up to 100 components or broadband noise. Consistent with previous work by Watson and by Spiegel, masker uncertainty influenced performance in a way not easily explained by peripheral theories of masking. [Work supported by NIH.]
FREE

Off‐frequency masking for monaural and binaural detection (A)

Jeffrey A. Cokely and Joseph W. Hall

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Measures of critical bands reveal larger binaural than monaural critical bands [J. C. Sever, Jr., and A. M. Small, Jr., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 1343–1349 (1979)]. To date, the largest binaural critical band reported for a 500‐Hz pure tone signal is 220 Hz [J. W. Hall, R. S. Tyler, and M. A. Fernandes, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 73, 894–898 (1983)]. Our study suggests an appreciably larger binaural critical band when a procedure other than the traditional bandlimiting approach is used. We determined So and Sπ thresholds for a 500‐Hz pure tone masked by an No 50‐Hz narrow band of noise centered at 500 Hz. Then, to the 50‐Hz masker, we added a 30‐Hz narrow band of noise centered at one of 11 different frequencies from 200–2000 Hz. The 50‐Hz band was always No whereas the 30‐Hz band was No or Nπ. We observed increases in binaural thresholds when 30‐Hz narrow bands of noise as far as 500 Hz from the signal were added. These results suggest that a masking noise spectrum as wide as 1000 Hz influences binaural threshold for a 500‐Hz pure tone; a value almost five times larger than previously reported estimates.
FREE

Comodulation masking release in notched noise (A)

Joseph W. Hall

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The notched noise masking method, in which the threshold of a signal is determined as a function of the width of a notch centered on the signal frequency, is an effective means of measuring the frequency selectivity of the auditory system [R. D. Patterson, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 55, 802–809 (1976)]. Except for small deviations which have been noted at narrow notchwidths, threshold improves as a spectral notch centered on the frequency of the signal is increased. In modulated noise the deviation at narrow notchwidths is accentuated: with regard to a “no notch” condition, threshold increases appreciably for a notchwidths from 25–50 Hz wide centered on 500 Hz. For notchwidths greater than about 100 Hz, the function for modulated noise is not distinguishable from the function for random noise. The results will be discussed in terms of comodulation masking release [J. W. Hall, M. P. Haggard, and M. A. Fernandes, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 76, 50–56 (1984)] and of suppression.
FREE

Loudness functions and temporal resolution for hearing impaired listeners (A)

Edward A. Cudahy and Karen A. Mikami

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S63-S63 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Loudness perception was measured using a magnitude production procedure. Temporal resolution was measured in the same listeners using a tuning curve masking paradigm and a two‐interval forced‐choice adaptive procedure. Loudness functions were measured for pure tone signals at 500, 1000, and 3000 Hz with durations of 20 and 500 ms. The signal and masker for the temporal masking experiment were 20‐ms sinusoids in phase at 500, 1000, or 3000 Hz. Quiet and 80‐dB SPL broadband noise backgrounds were employed for both experiments. There were four primary findings. First, the loudness scaling data agrees with previous literature employing other techniques. Second, the hearing impaired listeners have broader than normal temporal masking functions in the quiet. Third, in the noise conditions, the two groups have broader functions than in quiet. Fourth, the temporal masking functions for the normal and hearing impaired listeners in a noise background are virtually parallel. Interrelations between the loudness and temporal masking data will be discussed. [Work supported by Hoover Foundation.]
FREE

Effects of notched noise on the rate of growth of loudness of tones in normal and recruiting ears (A)

Brian C. J. Moore, Brian R. Glasberg, Robert F. Hess, and John P. Birchall

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S64-S64 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Five subjects with unilateral cochlear hearing impairments and three normally hearing subjects made loudness matches between tones presented alternately to the two ears, as a function of the intensity of the tone in the impaired ear (or the left ear of the normal subjects). The impaired ears showed recruitment; the rate of growth of loudness with increasing intensity was more rapid in the impaired ear than the normal ear. Presenting the tone in the impaired ear with a notched noise centered on the tone frequency, at a fixed signal‐to‐noise ratio, did not abolish the recruitment. This suggests that recruitment is not caused by an abnormally rapid spread of excitation in the peripheral auditory system. The noise had a greater effect on the loudness of the tone in normal ears than in impaired ears. It is possible that the loudness reduction of the tone in noise is mediated by suppression; suppression is weak or absent in impaired ears, and so the loudness reduction is smaller. [Work supported by the Medical Research Council, U. K. and the Wellcome Foundation.]
FREE

The jnd's of sound intensity depend on loudness, not on its gradient (A)

Josef J. Zwislocki and Herbert N. Jordan

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S64-S64 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Fechner's law implies that jnd's of sound intensity depend on how fast loudness grows with the intensity. We show that this is incorrect, and that jnd's depend on loudness rather than on its gradient. The jnd's were measured at 0.25, 1, and 4 kHz on two populations of listeners—normal and those with unilateral hearing loss of 30–75 dB accompanied by loudness recruitment. By means of dichotic loudness balancing, sensation levels were determined for the pathological ears, which produced, respectively, the same loudness as did sensation levels of 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 90 dB in normal ears. The jnd's determined in the normal and pathological ears at sensation levels producing loudness equality were equal in spite of slope inequality of the loudness functions. One exception to this rule occurred at 10 dB where the increased slope of pathological loudness functions was accompanied by a larger jnd, the opposite of what Fechner's law would predict. [Work supported by NIH.]
FREE

Masked loudness functions and their relation to intensity discrimination (A)

R. Hellman, B. Scharf, M. Teghtsoonian, R. Teghtsoonian, and W. Hellman

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S64-S64 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
One way to assess the relation between intensity discrimination and the slope of the loudness function is to measure the jnd for a sound that falls on two distinctly different loudness functions. Two such functions were generated by presenting a 1000‐Hz tone in narrow‐band noise (NBN, 925–1080 Hz) at 70 dB SPL and in wideband noise (WBN, 75–9600 Hz) at 80 dB SPL. Over a range from near threshold to about 75 dB SPL, the tone's loudness function is much steeper in the NBN than in the WBN. At 72 dB SPL, where the two loudness curves cross, we measured the tone's jnd in each noise by a two‐interval forced‐choice procedure. Despite the differences in slope (and in sensation level), the jnd was the same in both NBN and WBN. The value of ΔI/I was 0.22, which is close to that interpolated from Jesteadt, Wier, and Green [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 61, 169–176 (1977)] for a 1000‐Hz tone at the same loudness in quiet as our 72‐dB tone in noise. These and other data suggest the possibility that the size of the jnd for intensity depends more on loudness magnitude than on the slope of the loudness function. [Supported by funds from the Medical Research Service of the VA to RH and by a grant (BMS 73‐06944) from NSF to RT.]
FREE

“Intensity attention bands” in normal and impaired listeners (A)

Mark E. Perkins and Frederic L. Wightman

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 77, Issue S1, pp. S64-S64 (1985); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 12 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
In a recruiting ear the perceived intensity (i.e., “loudness”) of a sound slightly above threshold increases more rapidly with sound intensity than normal. If “loudness” mediates “Intensity Attention Bands” (IABs) [e.g., Luce et al., Percept. Psychophys., 49–54 (1976)], then IABs for intensity regions near threshold should be narrower in a recruiting ear than in a normal ear. The same range of “loudness” is produced by a narrower range of intensity in the recruiting ear. We used a variant of the roving‐level discrimination paradigm to test the ability of listeners with normal hearing and with moderate hearing loss to discriminate changes in the intensity of a 1‐kHz tone burst. As the difference (in dB) is increased between the level of a fixed priming stimulus and the level of the tones to be discriminated, performance deteriorates. Comparisons among the groups of subjects will be discussed.
Return to All Sections
Close

Home Publications Meetings Contact ASA Site Map Back to Top

Copyright © Acoustical Society of America

close