Do off-frequency simultaneous maskers suppress the signal?

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Abstract
Psychophysical tuning curves obtained in forward masking show greater tuning than those obtained in simultaneous masking. This difference is often attributed to the contribution of suppression to the masking produced by off-frequency simultaneous maskers. Simultaneous-masking tuning curves were obtained using a 195-ms, 1-kHz sinusoidal signal presented [to subjects] at 40 dB SPL [speech perception level]. If the maskers identified in this procedure reduce signal detectability by suppressing the response to the signal, then it should be possible to demonstrate suppression effects between stimuli with the parameters of the masker and signal. One conventional method for demonstrating suppression is to show a reduction in the amount of forward masking produced by 1 stimulus when a 2nd stimulus is added to it. When used to test the effect of the masker upon the signal, this procedure does not show the suppression supposedly produced by the off-frequency maskers. These data are consistent with an alternative explanation involving only excitatory interactions between masker and signal.

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