Caspersenbaird9944

Comodulation masking release (CMR) is an effect that is associated with auditory sensitivity to coherent amplitude modulations in different frequency regions. The present study investigated if this comodulation is detected by a direct comparison of auditory filter outputs, or if common masker fluctuations are first extracted by a broadly tuned stage that integrates information across a large spectral range. selleck To this end, a modified flanking-band experiment with a narrowband noise masker at the signal frequency (on-frequency masker), and two flanking bands (FBs), one centered below and one above the signal frequency, were used. The center frequencies (CFs) of FBs changed whenever the masker had a local envelope minimum. The center frequencies were randomly chosen from a range of frequencies around the average CF of each FB. A CMR was measured even for large CF variations of FBs, where the envelopes at the off-frequency auditory filters were no longer the same as the masker envelope at the on-frequency auditory filter. This supports the hypothesis of a broadly tuned stage to determine masker comodulation. For two experimental settings, CMR deteriorated for very large variations of CFs of FBs, suggesting a spectral weighting of the off-frequency auditory filters in this broadly tuned stage.Voiced speech is generated by the glottal flow interacting with vocal fold vibrations. However, the details of vibrations in the anterior-posterior direction (the so-called zipper-effect) and their correspondence with speech and other glottal signals are not fully understood due to challenges in direct measurements of vocal fold vibrations. In this proof-of-concept study, the potential of four parameters extracted from high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV), electroglottography, and speech signals to indicate the presence of a zipper-type glottal opening is investigated. Comparison with manual labeling of the HSV videos highlighted the importance of multiple parameter-signal pairs in indicating the presence of a zipper-type glottal opening.This study investigated the effect of presentation level on spectral-ripple detection for listeners with and without sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Participants were 25 listeners with normal hearing and 25 listeners with SNHL. Spectral-ripple detection thresholds (SRDTs) were estimated at three spectral densities (0.5, 2, and 4 ripples per octave, RPO) and three to four sensation levels (SLs) (10, 20, 40, and, when possible, 60 dB SL). Each participant was also tested at 90 dB sound pressure level (SPL). Results indicate that level affected SRDTs. However, the effect of level depended on ripple density and hearing status. For all listeners and all RPO conditions, SRDTs improved from 10 to 40 dB SL. In the 2- and 4-RPO conditions, SRDTs became poorer from the 40 dB SL to the 90 dB SPL condition. The results suggest that audibility likely controls spectral-ripple detection at low SLs for all ripple densities, whereas spectral resolution likely controls spectral-ripple detection at high SLs and ripple densities. For optimal ripple detection across all listeners, clinicians and researchers should use a SL of 40 dB SL. To avoid absolute-level confounds, a presentation level of 80 dB SPL can also be used.Many animals increase the intensity of their vocalizations in increased noise. This response is known as the Lombard effect. While some previous studies about cetaceans report a 1 dB increase in the source level (SL) for every dB increase in the background noise level (NL), more recent data have not supported this compensation ability. The purpose of this study was to calculate the SLs of humpback whale song units recorded off Hawaii and test for a relationship between these SLs and background NLs. Opportunistic recordings during 2012-2017 were used to detect and track 524 humpback whale encounters comprised of 83 974 units on the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility hydrophones. Received levels were added to their estimated transmission losses to calculate SLs. Humpback whale song units had a median SL of 173 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, and SLs increased by 0.53 dB/1 dB increase in background NLs. These changes occurred in real time on hourly and daily time scales. Increases in ambient noise could reduce male humpback whale communication space in the important breeding area off Hawaii. Since these vocalization changes may be dependent on location or behavioral state, more work is needed at other locations and with other species.Lateralization of complex high-frequency sounds is conveyed by interaural level differences (ILDs) and interaural time differences (ITDs) in the envelope. In this work, the authors constructed an auditory model and simulate data from three previous behavioral studies obtained with, in total, over 1000 different amplitude-modulated stimuli. The authors combine a well-established auditory periphery model with a functional count-comparison model for binaural excitatory-inhibitory (EI) interaction. After parameter optimization of the EI-model stage, the hemispheric rate-difference between pairs of EI-model neurons relates linearly with the extent of laterality in human listeners. If a certain ILD and a certain envelope ITD each cause a similar extent of laterality, they also produce a similar rate difference in the same model neurons. After parameter optimization, the model accounts for 95.7% of the variance in the largest dataset, in which amplitude modulation depth, rate of modulation, modulation exponent, ILD, and envelope ITD were varied. The model also accounts for 83% of the variances in each of the other two datasets using the same EI model parameters.The goal of this study is to identify laryngeal strategies that minimize vocal fold contact pressure while producing a target sound pressure level (SPL) using a three-dimensional voice production model. The results show that while the subglottal pressure and transverse stiffness can be manipulated to reduce the peak contact pressure, such manipulations also reduce the SPL, and are thus less effective in reducing contact pressure in voice tasks targeting a specific SPL level. In contrast, changes in the initial glottal angle and vocal fold vertical thickness that reduce the contact pressure also increase the SPL. Thus, in voice tasks targeting a specific SPL, such changes in the initial glottal angle and vertical thickness also lower the subglottal pressure, which further reduces the peak contact pressure. Overall the results show that for voice tasks with a target SPL level, vocal fold contact pressure can be significantly reduced by adopting a barely abducted glottal configuration or reducing the vocal fold vertical thickness.