Aural nonlinearity and auditory fatigue

Characterising auditory filter nonlinearity.

An important aspect of auditory nonlinearity is that psychoacoustically measured auditory filters broaden as the level at which they are measured increases. However, it is not yet clear whether the change in filter shape is controlled primarily by the level of the probe or that of the masker. We have therefore developed a new method for fitting filter shapes to notched-noise data in which filte...

On the nature of two-tone aural nonlinearity.

The present manuscript begins with a review of the literature on two-tone nonlinearity and proceeds to the description of an ad hoc model of auditory nonlinearity which can account for several of the features of the psychophysical data on various two-tone nonlinearities, in particular, (f2-f1), (2f1-f2), and two-tone suppression. The two basic components of the model are (1) a nonlinearity whic...

Central auditory system plasticity and aural rehabilitation of adults.

Until recently, researchers used behavioral measures of identification and discrimination of speech and nonspeech stimuli to assess the effects of auditory deprivation, enhancement, and training. Recent advances in our ability to measure electrical activity in the auditory system in response to sound have made it possible for us to study how changes in auditory input (because of hearing loss, a...

Minimal Bounds on Nonlinearity in Auditory Processing

Time-reversal symmetry breaking is a key feature of nearly all natural sounds, caused by the physics of sound production. While attention has been paid to the response of the auditory system to “natural stimuli,” very few psychophysical tests have been performed. We conduct psychophysical measurements of time-frequency acuity for both “natural” notes (sharp attack, long decay) and time-reversed...

Auditory Fatigue: Influence of Mental Factors.