Time and frequency metrics related to auditory masking of a 10 kHz tone in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

J Acoust Soc Am. 2013 Dec;134(6):4556. doi: 10.1121/1.4824680.

Abstract

Metrics related to the frequency spectrum of noise (e.g., critical ratios) are often used to describe and predict auditory masking. In this study, detection thresholds for a 10 kHz tone were measured in the presence of anthropogenic, natural, and synthesized noise. Time-domain and frequency-domain metrics were calculated for the different noise types, and regression models were used to determine the relationship between noise metrics and masked tonal thresholds. Statistical models suggested that detection thresholds, masked by a variety of noise types at a variety of noise levels, can be explained with metrics related to the spectral density of noise and the degree to which amplitude modulation is correlated across frequency regions of the noise. The results demonstrate the need to include time-domain metrics when describing and predicting auditory masking.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Acoustics
  • Animals
  • Audiometry, Pure-Tone
  • Auditory Perception*
  • Auditory Threshold
  • Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / physiology
  • Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / psychology*
  • Female
  • Models, Statistical
  • Noise / adverse effects*
  • Perceptual Masking*
  • Psychoacoustics
  • Signal Detection, Psychological*
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Sound Spectrography
  • Time Factors