Comodulation masking release with random variations of flanking-band center frequencies.

Comodulation masking release (CMR) is an effect that is associated with auditory sensitivity to coherent amplitude modulations in different frequency regions. The present study investigated if this comodulation is detected by a direct comparison of auditory filter outputs, or if common masker fluctuations are first extracted by a broadly tuned stage that integrates information across a large spectral range. To this end, a modified flanking-band experiment with a narrowband noise masker at the signal frequency (on-frequency masker), and two flanking bands (FBs), one centered below and one above the signal frequency, were used.