Abstract
A number of recent psychophysical studies have hypothesized that the activation of medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferents plays a significant role in forward masking. These hypotheses are based on general similarities between spectral and temporal characteristics exhibited by some psychophysical forward-masking results and by effects of efferent activation measured using physiological methods. In humans, noninvasive physiological measurements of otoacoustic emissions have been used to probe changes in cochlear responses due to MOC efferent activation. The aim of this study was to verify our earlier efferent-based hypothesis regarding the dependence of psychophysical forward masking of a 6-kHz probe on the phase curvature of harmonic-complex maskers. The ear-canal pressure for a continuous 6-kHz probe was measured in the presence and absence of Schroeder-phase complexes used as forward maskers in our previous psychophysical study. Changes in the ear-canal pressure were analyzed using methods for estimating the effects of efferent activation on stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions under the assumption that changes in cochlear gain due to efferent activation will be reflected in changes in the magnitude and phase of the emission. Limitations and challenges in relating effects of feedback-based reflexes to psychophysical effects will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH grant R01DC010374.]
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