Vowel temporal masking of pitch recognition for consonant‐like noise bursts by normal‐ and impaired‐hearing listeners

Abstract

Impaired‐ and normal‐hearing subjects (Ss) identified the pitch of either a low‐, mid‐, or high‐frequency noise burst in a recognition‐masking task with a two‐formant vowel masker which preceded and/or followed the noise burst. F1 of the vowel was at 700 Hz and F2 at 1100 Hz. The three noise bursts were bands of flat‐spectrum noise: 500–1500 Hz, 1500–4000 Hz, or 4000–6000 Hz. Forward‐, backward‐, and combined‐forward‐and‐backward‐masking conditions were tested with a 10 ms Δt. The vowel was presented at most comfortable listening level (MCL) for the impaired and at 90 dB SPL for the normal‐hearing Ss: the noise bursts were presented at 10 dB SL. Pitch recognition of the noise bursts was affected least in the backward‐masking condition and was poorest in the combined‐forward‐and‐backward‐masking condition. In the combined masking condition nearly all Ss showed some masking of pitch recognition for one or more of the noise bursts. Masking occurred most often for the low‐frequency burst and least often for the high‐frequency burst. Generally, release from masking was seen when Δt was lengthened to 100 ms.