Effects of forward masking on detection and intensity discrimination of pulsed sinusoids

Abstract

The effect of the intensity of a pure-tone masker on the forward-masked threshold of a brief pure-tone signal of the same frequency was investigated using masker level up to 100 dB SPL. Results agree with and extend those of Houtgast [in Facts and Models in Hearing, edited by E. Zwicker and E. Terhardt (Springer, Berlin, 1974), pp. 258–265 and are described by a square-root relation between masker and signal level, to masker levels of at least 80 dB. In contrast, Weber's law is approximately valid for intensity discrimination of pulsed sinusoids in the presence of a pure-tone forward masker when the ratio of masker level of the standard is fixed. For fixed intensities above the detection threshold in forward masking, the forward-masked increment threshold generally increases only slightly with increases in masker level. [Research supported by the Center for Research in Human Learning and by NSF.]