Using excitation patterns to predict auditory masking

We investigated how well auditory masking can be predicted from excitation patterns. For this purpose, a quantitative model proposed by Moore and Glasberg (1987) and Glasberg and Moore (1990) was used to calculate excitation patterns evoked by stationary sounds. We performed simulations of a number of masking experiments reported in the literature, by calculating excitation patterns for the masker alone as well as for the masker-plus-target conditions. As a threshold criterion we imposed a difference of 1 dB between the two patterns at any frequency. With this criterion the model was used to predict masking behaviour. For ordinary masking patterns, the method yields a fairly precise prediction of experimental data. For other conditions, however, systematic deviations between model predictions and data are observed. For instance, the typical tip-tail shape of psycho-acoustical tuning curves is not reproduced by the modeL Furthennore, the non-linearities in level dependence are not correctly described.