Abstract
Two experiments were performed to better understand on- and off-frequency modulation masking in normal-hearing school-age children and adults. Experiment 1 estimated thresholds for detecting 16-, 64- or 256-Hz sinusoidal amplitude modulation (AM) imposed on a 4300-Hz pure tone. Thresholds tended to improve with age, with larger developmental effects for 64- and 256-Hz AM than 16-Hz AM. Detection of 16-Hz AM was also measured with a 1000-Hz off-frequency masker tone carrying 16-Hz AM. Off-frequency modulation masking was larger for younger than older children and adults when the masker was gated with the target, but not when the masker was continuous. Experiment 2 measured detection of 16- or 64-Hz sinusoidal AM carried on a bandpass noise with and without additional on-frequency masker AM. Children and adults demonstrated modulation masking with similar tuning to modulation rate. Rate-dependent age effects for AM detection on a pure-tone carrier are consistent with maturation of temporal resolution, an effect that may be obscured by modulation masking for noise carriers. Children were more susceptible than adults to off-frequency modulation masking for gated stimuli, consistent with maturation in the ability to listen selectively in frequency, but the children were not more susceptible to on-frequency modulation masking than adults.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2565-2575 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Volume | 145 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2019 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics