Edward M. Burns
JG-15, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA 98185
The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the pitch changes of pure tones with changes in level are dependent on the spread of excitation with increasing level. Pitch-level functions were obtained in quiet, and in the presence of band-reject masking noise, for frequencies ranging from 250 to 8000 Hz. Both the spectrum level of the masking noise and the width of the the band-reject region surrounding the pure tones were parametrically varied. In addition, estimates of the amount of partial masking for each condition were obtained from loudness matches. Preliminary results suggest that, for levels above 60 dB SPL, the pitch shifts associated with partial masking usually reduce or eliminate pitch changes with level. [Work supported by NIDCD and the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center.]