Auditory Masking in the Rat

Abstract

Masked thresholds in rats were measured with an operant tracking method [Science 131, 1046 (1960)] at four frequencies between 1000 and 8000 cps and at three to five levels of wide-band noise. Critical ratios calculated from the masked thresholds were found to be greater than those found in cat and in man. The mathematical function derived by Greenwood [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 33, 1344 (1961)] relating critical bandwidths to position on the basilar membrane was shown to fit reasonably well the data collected in this experiment. [Work supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (NB-02484), and from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Inc.]