BINAURAL MASKING - BACKWARD, FORWARD, AND SIMULTANEOUS EFFECTS

This study sought to examine the temporal relations of binaural masking as compared with monaural masking for conditions of forward, simultaneous, and backward masking. Five conditions of different signal masker configurations and a number of temporal relations were examined to determine the masking effects on a tone by a tonal masker. The results indicate that forward, simultaneous, and backward masking are all the result of time dependent properties of the neural mechanism, but the dependency for all three types of masking is wholly or in part mediated by the central nervous system. The concept of peripheral adaptation as an explanation for forward masking is not supported. A discussion of the various contralateral masking conditions is presented. © 1969, Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.