The Modified Bark Spectral Distortion (MBSD), used for an objective speech quality measure, was presented previously [1]. The MBSD measure takes into account the noise masking threshold in order to use only audible distortions in the calculation of the distortion measure. Preliminary simulation results have shown improvement of the MBSD over the conventional BSD. In this paper, performance of t...

In this paper we introduce a class of morphological operators with applications to sharpening digitized grey valued images. We introduce t.he underlying partial differential equation (PDE) that governs this class of operators. For discrete implementations of the operator class! we show that instances utilizing a parabolic structuring function, have special properties that lead to an efficient i...

It is well established that repetition of the same target color across consecutive trials enhances search efficiency for pop-out targets; this phenomenon is known as Priming of Pop out (PoP). In three experiments, we addressed whether PoP interacts with top-down expectations in altering target visibility, which was manipulated via metacontrast masking. The target color either remained the same ...

Simultaneous and temporal masking are two frequently used techniques in psychology and vision science. Although there are many studies and theories related to each masking technique, there are no systematic investigations of their mutual relationship, even though both techniques are often applied together. Here, the authors show that temporal masking can both undo and enhance the deteriorating ...

Perceptual interactions in a model of wine woody-fruity binary mixtures were previously reported in a psychophysical study performed through orthonasal stimulation only. However, recent studies suggested that the perception of food-like and nonfood-like odors may depend on the route of stimulation. The aim of the present study was two-fold: first to examine the neural correlates of perceptual i...

This is the first in a series of two papers on masking. The objective of these papers is to develop a masking protocol that provides valid measures of threshold and is, in general, faster than the plateau method. In this paper, a masking method is developed that can replace the traditional plateau method in most masking situations. This new method is optimized to require fewer masking levels th...

The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of suppression in the growth of masking when a signal is well above the masker in frequency (upward spread of masking). Classical psychophysical models assume that masking is primarily due to the spread of masker excitation, and that the nonlinear upward spread of masking reflects a differential growth in excitation between the masker and the sig...

Taste-masking technologies are important for obtaining high-patient compliance and drug therapy efficiency, since many oral-delivery drugs have unpleasant qualities such as bitterness, sourness or saltiness. Taste-masking technology includes two aspects: selection of appropriate tastemasking substances (polymers, flavourings, sweeteners, amino acids, etc.) and selection of appropriate taste-mas...

There are many classes of masking, but two major classes are easily defined: neural masking and dynamic masking. Neural masking characterizes the internal noise associated with the neural representation of the auditory signal, a form of loudness noise. Dynamic masking is strictly cochlear, and is associated with cochlear outerhair-cell processing. This form is responsible for dynamic nonlinear ...