Temporal masking patterns are characterized by peak and valley values.

Evidence

In order to reduce the time needed for such measurements, it is necessary to concentrate on the most important part of the masking pattern. Figure 16.27a shows a set of temporal masking patterns produced by an octave-band noise at 4 kHz that is periodically switched on and off for 32 ms. The period of 64 ms corresponds to a repetition frequency of 16 Hz. The temporal masking pattern was measured with short tone bursts with a duration of 5 ms and a frequency of 4 kHz. Temporal resolution is usually given by two values, that of the peak, which is reached during the on-time of the masker, and that of the valley, which is near the end of the off-time of the masker. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1914

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the peak and valley as the two defining values of temporal masking patterns — core psychoacoustic terminology.