Effects of masker duration in pure-tone forward masking.

The masking of one tone by a preceding tone (forward masking) was studied as a function of the duration of the masker. In general it was found that forward masking increased with increasing masker duration for the range of durations used (35 to 500 msec). The functions relating masked probe threshold in decibels to the logarithm of masker duration were well described by straight lines. The rate of growth of forward masking as a function of masker duration was greatest for relatively high masker levels and frequencies.