ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part suggests that sensorineural hearing loss causes a reduction in frequency selectivity, and addresses how the perception of various complex sounds may be affected by it. It explores listeners’ ability to detect a change in the phase relation among the 21 components of a complex tone. The part deals with sinusoidal markers of different frequencies. It discusses how binaural time and intensity differences may be combined over time to account for measurements of binaural masking level differences in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. The part analyses the overshoot of masking to the action of an automatic gain control, which may be controlled by the efferent system. It also suggests that this finding may reflect that the efferent system controls, at least in part, the positive feedback in the cochlea that provides automatic gain control for normal listeners.
