Comodulation masking release for single and multiple rates of envelope fluctuation.

Two experiments are presented that investigate the influence of envelope fluctuation rate upon the magnitude of comodulation masking release (CMR). In Experiment 1, thresholds were measured for a tonal signal centered in either one or five masker bands. The maskers were either narrow-band noises or 100% sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) tones. The five masker bands had either the same (coherent) or different (incoherent) envelopes. Envelope rate was varied by manipulating either the noise bandwidth (10-200 Hz) or the SAM rate (10-128 Hz). The CMR values were largest for slow envelope rates. In Experiment 2, envelope coherence was simultaneously manipulated at two rates by amplitude modulating (10 Hz) narrow-band noises (100 Hz). The modulation depth was 100%, 83%, or 50%. The CMR based on the coherence of the noise carriers was about 5 dB, regardless of the SAM coherence or the modulation depth. The CMR based on the SAM coherence decreased from about 19 to 2 dB as modulation depth decreased, regardless of the noise-carrier coherence. Thresholds were highest when the envelope fluctuations were incoherent at both rates and were lowest when the envelope fluctuations were coherent at both rates. These data suggest that the auditory system is able to make across-frequency envelope comparisons at both envelope rates simultaneously.