Biomedical subjects

Magdalena Wojtczak

Publications and source records attributed to Magdalena Wojtczak.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Forward masking of amplitude modulation: basic characteristics.

In this study we demonstrate an effect for amplitude modulation (AM) that is analogous to forward making of audio frequencies, i.e., the modulation threshold for detection of AM (signal) is raised by preceding AM (masker). In the study we focused on the basic characteristics of the forward-masking effect. Functions representing recovery from AM forward masking measured with a 150- ms 40- Hz masker AM and a 50- ms signal AM of the same rate imposed on the same broadband-noise carrier, showed an exponential decay of forward masking with increasing delay from masker offset. Thresholds remained elevated by more than 2 dB over an interval of at least 150 ms following the masker. Masked-threshold patterns, measured with a fixed signal rate (20, 40, and 80 Hz) and a variable masker rate, showed tuning of the AM forward-masking effect. The tuning was approximately constant across signal modulation rates used and consistent with the idea of modulation-rate selective channels. Combining two equally effective forward maskers of different frequencies did not lead to an increase in forward masking relative to that produced by either component alone. Overall, the results are consistent with modulation-rate selective neural channels that adapt and recover from the adaptation relatively quickly.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Intensity discrimination and increment detection in cochlear-implant users.

Intensity difference limens (DLs) were measured in users of the Nucleus 22 and Clarion v1.2 cochlear implants and in normal-hearing listeners to better understand mechanisms of intensity discrimination in electric and acoustic hearing and to evaluate the possible role of neural adaptation. Intensity DLs were measured for three modes of presentation: gated (intensity increments gated synchronously with the pedestal), fringe (intensity increments delayed 250 or 650 ms relative to the onset of the pedestal), and continuous (intensity increments occur in the presence of a pedestal that is played throughout the experimental run). Stimuli for cochlear-implant listeners were trains of biphasic pulses; stimuli for normal-hearing listeners were a 1-kHz tone and a wideband noise. Clarion cochlear-implant listeners showed level-dependent effects of presentation mode. At low pedestal levels, gated thresholds were generally similar to thresholds obtained in the fringe and continuous conditions. At higher pedestal levels, however, the fringe and continuous conditions produced smaller intensity DLs than the gated condition, similar to the gated-continuous difference in intensity DLs observed in acoustic hearing. Nucleus cochlear-implant listeners did not show consistent threshold differences for the gated and fringe conditions, and were not tested in the continuous condition. It is not clear why a difference between gated and fringe thresholds occurred for the Clarion but not the Nucleus subjects. Normal-hearing listeners showed improved thresholds for the continuous condition relative to the gated condition, but the effect was larger for the 1-kHz tonal carrier than for the noise carrier. Findings suggest that adaptation occurring central to the inner hair cell synapse mediates the gated-continuous difference observed in Clarion cochlear-implant listeners and may also contribute to the gated-continuous difference in acoustic hearing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Suprathreshold effects of adaptation produced by amplitude modulation.

This work extends the study of adaptation to amplitude modulation (AM) to the perception of highly detectable modulation. A fixed-level matching procedure was used to find perceptually equivalent modulation depths for 16-Hz modulation imposed on a 1-kHz standard and a 4-kHz comparison. The modulation depths in the two stimuli were compared before and after a 10-min exposure to a 1-kHz tone (adaptor) 100% modulated in amplitude at different rates. For modulation depths of 63% (20 log m = -4) and smaller, the perceived modulation depth was reduced after exposure to the adaptor that was modulated at the same rate as the standard. The size of this reduction expressed as a difference between the post- and pre-exposure AM depths was similar to the increase in AM-detection threshold observed after adaptation. Postexposure suprathreshold modulation depth was not appreciably reduced when the modulation depth of the standard was large (approached 100%). A much smaller or no reduction in the perceived modulation depth was also observed when the modulation rates of the adaptor and the standard tone were different. The tuning of the observed effect of the adaptor appears to be much sharper than the tuning shown by modulation-masking results.

Adaptation, Physiological↗