Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychophysical tuning curves at very high frequencies.
AU - Yasin, Ifat
AU - Plack, Christopher J.
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - For most normal-hearing listeners, absolute thresholds increase rapidly above about 16 kHz. One hypothesis is that the high-frequency limit of the hearing-threshold curve is imposed by the transmission characteristics of the middle ear, which attenuates the sound input [Masterton et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 45, 966–985 (1969)]. An alternative hypothesis is that the high-frequency limit of hearing is imposed by the tonotopicity of the cochlea [Ruggero and Temchin, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 13206–13210 (2002)]. The aim of this study was to test these hypotheses. Forward-masked psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) were derived for signal frequencies of 12–17.5 kHz. For the highest signal frequencies, the high-frequency slopes of some PTCs were steeper than the slope of the hearing-threshold curve. The results also show that the human auditory system displays frequency selectivity for characteristic frequencies (CFs) as high as 17 kHz, above the frequency at which absolute thresholds begin to increase rapidly. The findings suggest that, for CFs up to 17 kHz, the high-frequency limitation in humans is imposed in part by the middle-ear attenuation, and not by the tonotopicity of the cochlea.
AB - For most normal-hearing listeners, absolute thresholds increase rapidly above about 16 kHz. One hypothesis is that the high-frequency limit of the hearing-threshold curve is imposed by the transmission characteristics of the middle ear, which attenuates the sound input [Masterton et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 45, 966–985 (1969)]. An alternative hypothesis is that the high-frequency limit of hearing is imposed by the tonotopicity of the cochlea [Ruggero and Temchin, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 13206–13210 (2002)]. The aim of this study was to test these hypotheses. Forward-masked psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) were derived for signal frequencies of 12–17.5 kHz. For the highest signal frequencies, the high-frequency slopes of some PTCs were steeper than the slope of the hearing-threshold curve. The results also show that the human auditory system displays frequency selectivity for characteristic frequencies (CFs) as high as 17 kHz, above the frequency at which absolute thresholds begin to increase rapidly. The findings suggest that, for CFs up to 17 kHz, the high-frequency limitation in humans is imposed in part by the middle-ear attenuation, and not by the tonotopicity of the cochlea.
U2 - 10.1121/1.2035594
DO - 10.1121/1.2035594
M3 - Journal article
VL - 118
SP - 2498
EP - 2506
JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
SN - 0001-4966
IS - 4
ER -