MASKER FLUCTUATION AND THE MASKING-LEVEL DIFFERENCE

Previous work suggests that, for some listeners, masker fluctuation ma y be advantageous for NoS pi detection. This study tested the hypothes is that the benefit of masker fluctuation to binaural analysis is base d on the ability to take advantage of epochs of low masker energy in t he fluctuating masker where the cues underlying binaural signal detect ion are more salient. The hypothesis was evaluated using the time-doma in version of COSS analysis derived by Buus et al. [J. Acoust. Sec. Am . 99, 2288-2297 (1996)] which measures the perceptual weight applied b y a listener within a relatively brief time window as a function of th e masker level during the window. The results indicated a dependency o f signal detection on short-term masker level in the NoS pi condition but not in the NoSo condition. This finding supports a new perspective indicating that binaural signal detection depends upon the envelope o f a masker in a way that is fundamentally different from that typicall y associated with monaural detection. (C) 1998 Acoustical Society of A merica.