Estimation of the center frequency of the highest modulation filter

For high-frequency sinusoidal carriers, the threshold for detecting sinusoidal amplitude modulation increases when the signal modulation frequency increases above about 120 Hz . Using the concept of a modulation filter bank, this effect might be explained by (1) a decreasing sensitivity or greater i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009-02, Vol.125 (2), p.1075-1081
Main Authors: Moore, Brian C. J., Füllgrabe, Christian, Sek, Aleksander
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Audiometry
Audition
Auditory Pathways - physiology
Auditory Perception
Auditory Threshold
Biological and medical sciences
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Models, Biological
Perception
Perceptual Masking
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Signal Detection, Psychological
Sound Spectrography
Young Adult
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Summary:For high-frequency sinusoidal carriers, the threshold for detecting sinusoidal amplitude modulation increases when the signal modulation frequency increases above about 120 Hz . Using the concept of a modulation filter bank, this effect might be explained by (1) a decreasing sensitivity or greater internal noise for modulation filters with center frequencies above 120 Hz ; and (2) a limited span of center frequencies of the modulation filters, the top filter being tuned to about 120 Hz . The second possibility was tested by measuring modulation masking in forward masking using an 8 kHz sinusoidal carrier. The signal modulation frequency was 80, 120, or 180 Hz and the masker modulation frequencies covered a range above and below each signal frequency. Four highly trained listeners were tested. For the 80 - Hz signal, the signal threshold was usually maximal when the masker frequency equaled the signal frequency. For the 180 - Hz signal, the signal threshold was maximal when the masker frequency was below the signal frequency. For the 120 - Hz signal, two listeners showed the former pattern, and two showed the latter pattern. The results support the idea that the highest modulation filter has a center frequency in the range 100 - 120 Hz .
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.3056562