Abstract
Backward masking is the phenomenon that an intense masker masks a weak and brief probe that Precedes the masker.Usually it has been attributed to the notion that in the Auditory pathway the neural response to a louder signal propagates faster than the response to a weak signal. Therefore, the response to the masker would overtake the probe response, thereby masking it. As argued before on a largely qualitative basis (Duifhuis 1972a, b), the acute peripheral frequency analysis can already cause temporal overlap of probe and masker, due to transient effects of peripheral filtering (transient masking, Duifhuis 1973). A further quantitative analysis of the peripheral contribution to backward masking appeared desirable. Recently this analysis has been worked out, using a descriptive model of the peripheral auditory system (Duifhuis, 1973). The present state of the modelling art implies that the theory will be a crude, but hopefully a significant first approximation. The main lines of the theory are presented in this paper, together with some tentative supporting neurophysiological data.
Significant parts of this study have been developed during my visit to the M.I.T. Research Laboratory of Electronics (Aug. ‘72–Aug.’73
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© 1974 Spinger-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Duifhuis, H. (1974). A Crude Quantitative Theory of Backward Masking. In: Zwicker, E., Terhardt, E. (eds) Facts and Models in Hearing. Communication and Cybernetics, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65902-7_38
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65902-7_38
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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