Effect of temporal asynchrony on children’s detection performance in a random-frequency, multi-tonal masking task

This study examined the degree to which children can use temporal onset/offset asynchronies to improve performance in a random-frequency, multi-tonal masking task. Normal-hearing school-age children (5-10 years) and adults were tested in two experiments. In Experiment 1, masked thresholds were measured in a 3IFC adaptive procedure. A 1000-Hz pure-tone signal was presented with a random-frequency, 4-tone masker played at 60 dB SPL. Onset/offset asynchrony was manipulated across conditions by fixing the signal duration at 200 ms and examining performance for masker durations of 200, 280, and 400 ms. The signal, when present, was temporally centered in the masker, resulting in asynchronies of 0, 40 and 100 ms. In Experiment 2, asynchrony was manipulated by holding masker duration constant and varying signal duration to be 200, 320, or 400 ms. Preliminary results suggest that children can use temporal onset/offset asynchrony to segregate a fixed-frequency signal tone from a tonal masker. Potential developmental differences in the ability to use a variety of temporal asynchronies in the presence of competing sounds will be discussed.