Modulation masking attributes of narrowband and low-noise noise forward maskers in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

Abstract

Savel and Bacon (2003) measured detection thresholds for a 4000 Hz pure-tone signal in the presence of a narrowband noise (NBN) or a low-noise noise (LNN) simultaneous masker. The authors asserted that fluctuations in the envelope of the NBN were likely responsible for its increased masking effectiveness. Because modulation detection interference (MDI) is larger for hearing-impaired (HI) than normal-hearing (NH) listeners using modulated simultaneous maskers (e.g., Lorenzi et al., 1997) and forward maskers (e.g., Koopman et al., 2008), we measured detection thresholds for NH and HI listeners for pure tones in the presence of either NBN or LNN forward maskers that were either 1-ERB wide or 1/3-ERB wide. Based on previous MDI findings (Koopman et al., 2008), we predicted larger differences in masked thresholds for the NBN and LNN conditions for HI than NH listeners. These results for detection thresholds for pure-tone signals have implications for interpreting differences in modulated forward masking for NH and HI listeners. [Work supported by grants from NIH/NIDCD.]