Ecological validity of masking release with speech-like stimuli

Comodulated masking noise and binaural cues can facilitate detecting a target sound from noise. These cues can induce a decrease in detection thresholds, quantified as comodulation masking release (CMR) and binaural masking level difference (BMLD), respectively. However, their relevance to speech perception is unclear as most studies have used artificial stimuli different from speech. Here, we investigated their ecological validity using sounds with speech-like spectro-temporal dynamics. We evaluated the ecological validity of such grouping effect with stimuli reflecting formant changes in speech. We set three masker bands at formant frequencies F1, F2, and F3 based on CV combination: /gu/, /fu/, and /pu/. We found that the CMR was little (< 3 dB) while BMLD was comparable to previous findings (~ 9 dB). In conclusion, we suggest that other features may play a role in facilitating frequency grouping by comodulation such as the spectral proximity and the number of masker bands.

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The effect of the preceding masking noise on monaural and binaural release from masking

10.1101/2021.11.05.467091 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hyojin Kim ◽

Viktorija Ratkute ◽

Bastian Epp

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Nucleus ◽

Temporal Integration ◽

System Level ◽

Top Down ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Masking Release ◽

Masking Level Difference ◽

Masking Noise ◽

Comodulation Masking Release ◽

Release From Masking

When a target tone is preceded by a noise, the threshold for target detection can be increased or decreased depending on the type of a preceding masker. The effect of preceding masker to the following sound can be interpreted as either the result of adaptation at the periphery or at the system level. To disentangle these, we investigated the time constant of adaptation by varying the length of the preceding masker. For inducing various masking conditions, we designed stimuli that can induce masking release. Comodulated masking noise and binaural cues can facilitate detecting a target sound from noise. These cues induce a decrease in detection thresholds, quantified as comodulation masking release (CMR) and binaural masking level difference (BMLD), respectively. We hypothesized that if the adaptation results from the top-down processing, both CMR and BMLD will be affected with increased length of the preceding masker. We measured CMR and BMLD when the length of preceding maskers varied from 0 (no preceding masker) to 500 ms. Results showed that CMR was more affected with longer preceding masker from 100 ms to 500 ms while the preceding masker did not affect BMLD. In this study, we suggest that the adaptation to preceding masking sound may arise from low level (e.g. cochlear nucleus, CN) rather than the temporal integration by the higher-level processing.

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Comodulation masking release and speech perception: Implications for dip‐listening by cochlear implant patients.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.4784053 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 125 (4) ◽

pp. 2633-2633

Author(s):

Antje Ihlefeld ◽

Barbara G. Shinn‐Cunningham ◽

Robert P. Carlyon

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Masking Release ◽

Comodulation Masking Release

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Comodulation masking release and the masking-level difference

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.400739 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 89 (6) ◽

pp. 3007-3008 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Marion F. Cohen ◽

Earl D. Schubert

Keyword(s):

Level Difference ◽

Masking Release ◽

Masking Level Difference ◽

Comodulation Masking Release

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Tone detection thresholds in interaurally delayed noise of different bandwidths

Acta Acustica ◽

10.1051/aacus/2021054 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 60

Author(s):

Mathias Dietz ◽

Jörg Encke ◽

Kristin I Bracklo ◽

Stephan D Ewert

Keyword(s):

Temporal Coherence ◽

Delay Lines ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Filter Bandwidth ◽

Masking Release ◽

Interaural Phase ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Masking Noise ◽

Interaural Phase Difference ◽

Interaural Time Delay

Differences between the interaural phase of a noise and a target tone improve detection thresholds. The maximum masking release is obtained for detecting an antiphasic tone (Sπ) in diotic noise (N0). It has been shown in several studies that this beneﬁt gradually declines as an interaural time delay (ITD) is applied to the noise. This decline has been attributed to the reduced interaural coherence of the noise. Here, we report detection thresholds for a 500 Hz tone in masking noise with ITDs up to 8 ms and bandwidths from 25 to 1000 Hz. Reducing the noise bandwidth from 100 to 50 and 25 Hz increased the masking release for 8-ms ITD, as expected for increasing temporal coherence with decreasing bandwidth. For bandwidths of 100–1000 Hz no significant difference in masking release was observed. Detection thresholds with these wider-band noises had an ITD dependence that is fully described by the temporal coherence imposed by the typical monaurally determined auditory-filter bandwidth. A binaural model based on interaural phase-difference fluctuations accounts for the data without using delay lines.

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Masking Release and Modulation Interference in Cochlear Implant and Simulation Listeners

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/1059-0889(2013/12-0049) ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 135-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Su-Hyun Jin ◽

Yingjiu Nie ◽

Peggy Nelson

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Cochlear Implants ◽

Training Programs ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Spectral Interference ◽

Signal To Noise ◽

Sentence Recognition ◽

Speech In Noise ◽

Masking Release ◽

Masking Noise

Purpose To examine the effects of temporal and spectral interference of masking noise on sentence recognition for listeners with cochlear implants (CI) and normal-hearing persons listening to vocoded signals that simulate signals processed through a CI (NH-Sim). Method NH-Sim and CI listeners participated in the experiments using speech and noise that were processed by bandpass filters. Depending on the experimental condition, the spectra of the maskers relative to that of speech were set to be completely embedded with, partially overlapping, or completely separate from, the speech. The maskers were either steady or amplitude modulated and were presented at +10 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results NH-Sim listeners experienced progressively more masking as the masker became more spectrally overlapping with speech, whereas CI listeners experienced masking even when the masker was spectrally remote from the speech signal. Both the NH-Sim and CI listeners experienced significant modulation interference when noise was modulated at a syllabic rate (4 Hz), suggesting that listeners may experience both modulation interference and masking release. Thus, modulated noise has mixed and counteracting effects on speech perception. Conclusion When the NH-Sim and CI listeners with poor spectral resolution were tested using syllabic-like rates of modulated noise, they tended to integrate or confuse the noise with the speech, causing an increase in speech errors. Optional training programs might be useful for CI listeners who show more difficulty understanding speech in noise.

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Frequency Selectivity and Comodulation Masking Release in Adults and in 6-Year-Old Children

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3301.96 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 96-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Kathleen Veloso ◽

Joseph W. Hall ◽

John H. Grose

Keyword(s):

Frequency Selectivity ◽

Center Frequency ◽

Signal Frequency ◽

Noise Masking ◽

Masking Release ◽

Noise Masker ◽

Wideband Noise ◽

Masking Noise ◽

Comodulation Masking Release ◽

Narrowband Noise

Frequency selectivity and comodulation masking release (CMR) for a 1000-Hz signal frequency were examined in 6-year-old children and adults. An abbreviated measure of frequency selectivity was also conducted for a 500-Hz signal. Frequency selectivity was measured using a notched-noise masking method, and CMR was measured using narrow bands of noise whose amplitude envelopes were either uncorrelated or correlated. There were 6 listeners in each age group. No differences were observed between the adults and children for either auditory measure. Similarly, no differences were observed in the ability to detect a pure-tone signal in a relatively wideband noise masker. When the masking noise was narrowband, however, the masked thresholds of the children were higher than those of the adults. Two characteristics that distinguish narrowband noise from wideband noise are: (1) narrowband noise has a pitch quality corresponding to its center frequency, whereas wideband noise does not have a definite pitch; (2) the intensity fluctuations are relatively greater in narrowband noise than in wideband noise. This may suggest that 6-year-old children have a reduced ability to detect signals in noise backgrounds where the signal has perceptual qualities similar to the noise, or in noise backgrounds having a high degree of fluctuation.

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