Psychophysical measures of auditory nonlinearities as a function of frequency in individuals with normal hearing

In order to gain a better understanding of how auditory nonlinear phenomena vary as a function of location along the cochlea, several psychophysical m easures of nonlinearity were examined as a function of signal frequency. Si x normal-hearing individuals completed three experiments, each designed to measure one aspect of nonlinear behavior: (1) the effects of level on frequ ency selectivity in simultaneous masking, measured using notched-noise mask ers at spectrum levels of 30 and 50 dB, (2) two-tone suppression, measured using forward maskers at the signal frequency (f(s)) and suppressor tones a bove f(s), and (3) growth of masking, measured using forward maskers below f(s) at a signal/masker frequency ratio of 1.44. Four signal frequencies (3 75, 750, 1500, and 3000 Hz) were tested to sample the nonlinear behavior at different locations along the basilar membrane, in order to test the hypot hesis that the apical (low-frequency) region of the cochlea behaves more li nearly than the basal (high-frequency) region. In general, all three measur es revealed a progressive increase in nonlinear behavior as signal frequenc y increased, with little or no nonlinearity at the lowest frequency, consis tent with the hypothesis. (C) 1999 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-49 66(99)03601-2].