Intrinsic envelope fluctuations and modulation-detection thresholds for narrow-band noise carriers

A model is presented which calculates the intrinsic envelope power of a ban dpass noise carrier within the passband of a hypothetical modulation filter tuned to a specific modulation frequency. Model predictions are compared t o experimentally obtained amplitude modulation (AM) detection thresholds. I n experiment 1, thresholds for modulation rates of 5, 25, and 100 Hz impose d on a bandpass Gaussian noise carrier with a fixed upper cutoff frequency of 6 kHz and a bandwidth in the range from 1 to 6000 Hz were obtained. In e xperiment 2, three noises with different spectra of the intrinsic fluctuati ons served as the carrier: Gaussian noise, multiplied noise, and low-noise noise. In each case, the carrier was spectrally centered at 5 kHz and had a bandwidth of 50 Hz. The BM detection thresholds were obtained for modulati on frequencies of 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, and 100 Hz. The intrinsic envelope po wer of the carrier at the output of the modulation filter tuned to the sign al modulation frequency appears to provide a good estimate for AM detection threshold. The results are compared with predictions on the basis of the m ore complex auditory processing model by Dau et al. [J. Acoust. Sec. Am. 99 , 3615-3622 (1497)]. (C) 1999 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(99 )02611-9].