Detection thresholds for tones in narrow-band noise were measured for two binaural configurations: and . The noise band had a mean overall level of SPL and was centered on 250, 500, or . Signals and noise were simultaneously gated for 500, 110, or . Three conditions of level randomization were tested: (1) no randomization; (2) diotic randomization—the stimulus level (common to both ears) was randomly chosen from an uniformly distributed range every presentation interval; and (3) dichotic randomization—the stimulus levels for each ear were each independently and randomly chosen from the range. Regardless of binaural configuration, level randomization had small effects on thresholds at 500 and , implying that binaural masking-level differences (BMLDs) do not depend on interaural level differences for individual stimuli. For stimuli, both diotic and dichotic randomization led to markedly poorer performance than at 500- and 110-ms durations; BMLDs diminished with no randomization and dichotic randomization but not with diotic randomization. The loss of BMLDs at , with degrees-of-freedom (2WT) approximately 1, implies that changes in intracranial parameters occurring during the course of the observation interval are necessary for BMLDs when mean-level and mean-intracranial-position cues have been made unhelpful.
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.© 2005 Acoustical Society of America.
2005
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