Long combined maskers trigger MOCR gain reduction that underestimates true suppression

Evidence

Both younger and older adults in the present study showed significantly more suppression measured with short combined maskers than with longer combined maskers. Several of the older participants, who had no measurable suppression with the longer combined masker, had a small amount of suppression measured with the shorter combined masker. When suppression is measured with combined maskers long enough to elicit MOCR-induced gain reduction, suppression may be underestimated. However, even when measured with the shorter combined maskers, older adults had less suppression than younger adults. Evidence from animal studies suggests that gain reduction from the MOCR and suppression interact, resulting in decreased suppression (Winslow and Sachs 1987 ; Kawase et al. 1993 ). The results of the present study support this idea. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 962

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader interest in medial olivocochlear reflex physiology and efferent control of the cochlea.
• QUESTION: The MOCR-suppression interaction mechanism posited from animal data deserves closer reading of Winslow & Sachs and Kawase et al.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 962