Otoacoustic emission suppression mirrors hearing threshold masking patterns

Evidence

The resulting masking-period pattern is displayed in Fig. 3.24a. It shows the level of the test-tone burst that is just audible in the presence of the m&sker as a function of the time of presentation within the masker’s period. The masking period pattern outlined in Fig. 3.24a is an almost perfect mirror image of the suppression-period pattern outlined in Fig. 3.24e. This result indicates that hearing near threshold and suppression of delayed evoked emissions are very closely related: the evoked emissions disappear under those conditions for which the evoking tone burst is no longer audible. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 328

The masking period pattern outlined in Fig. 3.24a is an almost perfect mirror image of the suppression-period pattern outlined in Fig. 3.24e. This result indicates that hearing near threshold and suppression of delayed evoked emissions are very closely related: the evoked emissions disappear under those conditions for which the evoking tone burst is no longer audible. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 328

The frequencies of emissions correspond very closely to the minima in the frequency dependence of threshold in quiet for the same subject. This result suggests a strong correlation between hearing ability at low levels near threshold in quiet and the three kinds of otoacoustic emissions. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 324

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains masking-period pattern and its mirror correspondence with suppression-period pattern.
• XREF: Ties otoacoustic emissions as a physical correlate of auditory threshold phenomena to the book’s broader theme of psychoacoustic models.
• DEEPTHINKING: The finding that a micro-mechanical cochlear response (otoacoustic emission suppression) maps mirror-exactly onto a perceptual outcome (threshold masking) is a rare direct bridge between physical ear mechanics and subjective hearing near threshold — dense enough to sit with.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what is the mechanism linking spontaneous-emission frequencies to minima of the threshold-in-quiet curve, and do these dips correspond to the microstructure of the audiogram?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 328; Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 324