Effects of Three Contralateral Maskers on Pure-Tone Thresholds using Manual Audiometry

Benton, Steven L.; Sheeley, Eugene C.

doi:10.3109/00206098709081551

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Central masking in normal-hearing subjects shows a correction factor of 5-10 dB [37] or no correction factor if either a wide- or narrow-band masker is used [38]. Because surface-recorded auditory potential data are only indirectly related to psychoacoustic phenomena [39], there are some unexplained inconsistencies between the psychoacoustic tests and the evoked potential tests without malingering.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binaural Electric-Acoustic Interactions Recorded from the Inferior Colliculus of Guinea Pigs: The Effect of Masking Observed in the Central Nucleus of the Inferior Colliculus

Noh

Lee

2012

Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol

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ObjectivesTo investigate the electric-acoustic interactions within the inferior colliculus of guinea pigs and to observe how central masking appears in invasive neural recordings of the inferior colliculus (IC).MethodsA platinum-iridium wire was inserted to scala tympani through cochleostomy with a depth no greater than 1 mm for intracochlear stimulation of electric pulse train. A 5 mm 100 µm, single-shank, thin-film, penetrating recording probe was inserted perpendicularly to the surface of the IC in the coronal plane at an angle of 30-40° off the parasagittal plane with a depth of 2.0-2.5 mm. The peripheral and central masking effects were compared using electric pulse trains to the left ear and acoustic noise to the left ear (ipsilateral) and to the right ear (contralateral). Binaural acoustic stimuli were presented with different time delays and compared with combined electric and acoustic stimuli. The averaged evoked potentials and total spike numbers were measured using thin-film electrodes inserted into the central nucleus of the IC.ResultsIpsilateral noise had more obvious effects on the electric response than did contralateral noise. Contralateral noise decreased slightly the response amplitude to the electric pulse train stimuli. Immediately after the onset of acoustic noise, the response pattern changed transiently with shorter response intervals. The effects of contralateral noise were evident at the beginning of the continuous noise. The total spike number decreased when the binaural stimuli reached the IC most simultaneously.ConclusionThese results suggest that central masking is quite different from peripheral masking and occurs within the binaural auditory system, and this study showed that the effect of masking could be observed in the IC recording. These effects are more evident and consistent with the psychophysical data from spike number analyses than with the previously reported gross potential data.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binaural Electric-Acoustic Interactions Recorded from the Inferior Colliculus of Guinea Pigs: The Effect of Masking Observed in the Central Nucleus of the Inferior Colliculus

Noh

Lee

2012

Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol

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“…High-intensity (or "loud") maskers have been found to cause vibrations that travel across the skull (Hirsh, 1948;Rosen & Stock, 1992) and interfere with test signals. Because transcranial v ibrations are a potential confounding variable, many experimenters have examined the effect of low-level white noise in central masking (Benton & Sheeley, 1987;Laucius & Young, 1972). Low-level maskers (e.g., 60 dB and lower), such as the ones used by Benton and Sheeley, prevent unwanted vibrations from traveling across the skull, preventing uncontrolled masker interference with the test signal.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Low-level maskers (e.g., 60 dB and lower), such as the ones used by Benton and Sheeley, prevent unwanted vibrations from traveling across the skull, preventing uncontrolled masker interference with the test signal. As such, standard intensity for maskers used in central masking experiments is 40 dB (Benton & Sheeley, 1987;Laucius & Young, 1972;Zwislocki, 1972). Benton and Sheeley (1987) examined the effects of three low-level maskers on pure-tone thresholds.…”

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Central Masking: Fact or Artifact?

McQueen

Terhune

2011

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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Fourteen people with normal hearing participated in a study that used signal detection theory to examine central auditory masking. Participants were tested in a sound-attenuating chamber. Absolute thresholds for stimuli (1000 Hz pure-tone, white noise masker at 40 dB SL) were established: first for the tone, then for the tone in combination with the masker in the contralateral ear. A mean threshold increase (3.8 dB) demonstrated central masking. Contrary to prediction, a paired-samples t-test revealed significant shifts in participant sensitivity (d´) [t (10) = 4.46, p < .001], suggesting that participants' sensitivity to the tone decreased in the masking condition. These findings provide support for the theory that central masking is an auditory processing phenomenon.

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Psychophysical correlates of contralateral efferent suppression. I. The role of the medial olivocochlear system in “central masking” in nonhuman primates

Smith

Turner

Henson

2000

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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An extensive physiological literature, including experimental and clinical studies in humans, demonstrates that activation of the medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferent system, by either contralateral sound or electrical stimulation, can produce significant alterations in cochlear function and suggests a role for the MOC system in influencing the auditory behavior of binaural hearing. The present data are from psychophysical studies in nonhuman primates which seek to determine if the noted physiological changes in response to contralateral acoustic stimulation have a perceptual counterpart. Four juvenile Japanese macaques were trained to respond to the presence of 1-s sinusoids, presented to the test ear, in an operant reinforcement paradigm. Thresholds were compared for frequencies ranging from 1.0 to 4.0 kHz in quiet, with thresholds measured when continuous, two octave-band noise, centered on the test tone frequency, was presented in the contralateral ear. Contralateral noise was presented at levels of 10-60 dB above detection threshold for the test-tone frequency. While some variability was evident across subjects, both in the frequency distribution and magnitude (as a function of contralateral noise level), all subjects exhibited an increase, or suppression of thresholds in the presence of contralateral noise. On average, thresholds increased systematically with contralateral noise level, to a peak of 7 dB. In one subject, the threshold increase seen with contralateral noise was significantly reduced when the MOC was surgically sectioned on the floor of the IVth ventricle. The characteristics of the measured shifts in behavioral thresholds, in the presence of contralateral noise reported here, are qualitatively and quantitatively similar to both efferent physiological suppression effects and psychophysical central masking threshold shifts which have been reported previously. These data suggest that at least some aspects of "central masking" are efferent-mediated peripheral processes, and that the term "central masking" may be incorrect.

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Effects of Three Contralateral Maskers on Pure-Tone Thresholds using Manual Audiometry

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Binaural Electric-Acoustic Interactions Recorded from the Inferior Colliculus of Guinea Pigs: The Effect of Masking Observed in the Central Nucleus of the Inferior Colliculus

Binaural Electric-Acoustic Interactions Recorded from the Inferior Colliculus of Guinea Pigs: The Effect of Masking Observed in the Central Nucleus of the Inferior Colliculus

Central Masking: Fact or Artifact?

Psychophysical correlates of contralateral efferent suppression. I. The role of the medial olivocochlear system in “central masking” in nonhuman primates

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