TEMPORAL PROPERTIES OF AUDITORY MASKING

拟议研究的长期目标是进一步了解时变刺激的听觉处理机制，并确定这些机制如何受到感音神经性听力损失的影响。有三个独立但相关的研究方向，在一定程度上都集中在周边压缩在时间处理中的潜在作用上。 通过研究暂时性、阿司匹林引起的听力损失、永久性听力损失和模型模拟的影响来评估压缩的影响。 研究的第一线集中在检测作为先前掩蔽刺激的函数的简短信号。 潜在的机制可能在增强新到达的或间歇性的信号，特别是那些在持续的背景中发挥重要作用。 这一系列研究的总体目标是检验以下假设：频率外音调掩蔽物的时间效应的机制与宽带噪声掩蔽物的效应的机制不同。 第二行的研究集中在同步掩蔽的相位效应，特别是对如何产生的时间波动影响掩蔽量。 本研究的总体目标是更好地了解这些相位效应的通道内和跨通道机制。这项研究应该增强我们对听觉系统如何处理许多复杂声音（包括语音）中固有的时间波动的理解，并最终可以深入了解为什么感音神经性听力损失患者在时间复杂背景下理解语音特别困难。 研究的第三条线集中在最近描述的响应增长从压缩到高水平线性的变化。 这种变化，推断从增长的掩蔽功能，是负责测量下降的时间处理在高刺激水平。 这一系列研究的主要目标是更好地了解反应增长变化背后的处理过程。

The long-range goals of the proposed research are to further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the auditory processing of time-varying stimuli, and to determine how those mechanisms are affected by sensorineural hearing loss. There are three separate but related lines of research, and all focus to some extent on the potential role of peripheral compression in temporal processing. The influence of compression is evaluated by studying the effects of temporary, aspirin- induced hearing loss, permanent hearing loss, and model simulations. The first line of research focuses on the detection of brief signals as a function of prior masker stimulation. The underlying mechanisms could play an important role in enhancing newly arriving or intermittent signals, especially those in an on-going background. The general goal of this line of research is to test the hypothesis that the mechanisms underlying the temporal effect with off frequency tonal maskers differ from those underlying the effect with broadband noise maskers. The second line of research concentrates on phase effects in simultaneous masking, particularly on how the resulting temporal fluctuations influence the amount of masking. The general goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of the within- and across-channel mechanisms underlying these phase effects. This research should enhance our understanding of how the auditory system processes the temporal fluctuations inherent in many complex sounds, including speech, and could ultimately provide insight into why individuals with a sensorineural hearing loss have particular difficulties understanding speech in temporally complex backgrounds. The third line of research focuses on a recently described change in response growth from compressive to linear at high levels. This change, inferred from growth-of-masking functions, is responsible for a measured decline in temporal processing at high stimulus levels. The primary goal of this line of research is to gain a better understanding of the processing underlying this change in response growth.