{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T09:35:05Z","timestamp":1791279305591,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Acoustical Society of America (ASA)","issue":"6","content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>There has been little exploration of the mechanisms by which stapedius muscle contractions reduce the masking of responses to high-frequency sounds by low-frequency sounds. To fill this gap in knowledge, controlled stapedius contractions were elicited with direct shocks in anesthetized cats, and measurements were made of the effects of these contractions on the masking of single auditory-nerve fibers and on the attenuation of middle-ear transmission. The results show that the stapedius-induced reductions of masking can be much larger than the attenuations of low-frequency sound. With a 300-Hz band of masking noise centered at 500 Hz, and signal tones at 6 or 8 kHz, unmasking effects over 40 dB were observed for sounds 100 dB SPL or less. The data suggest that much larger unmasking might occur. The observed unmasking can be explained completely by a linear stapedius-induced attenuation of sound transmission through the middle ear and a nonlinear growth rate of masking for auditory-nerve fibers. No central effects are required. It is argued that the reduction of the upward spread of masking is probably one of the most important functions of the stapedius muscle.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1121\/1.420399","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,26]],"date-time":"2002-07-26T14:03:47Z","timestamp":1027692227000},"page":"3576-3586","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":38,"title":["Effects of stapedius-muscle contractions on the masking of auditory-nerve responses"],"prefix":"10.1121","volume":"102","author":[{"given":"Xiao Dong","family":"Pang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology, Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114"},{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"suffix":"Jr.","given":"John J.","family":"Guinan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology, Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114"},{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139"},{"name":"Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"231","reference":[{"key":"2023070917334323800_bor68","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.3109\/00016486809126311","article-title":"A quantitative study of the effect of the acoustic stapedius reflex on sound transmission through the middle ear of man","volume":"66","year":"1968","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_bor73","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"525","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1913610","article-title":"Stapedius reflex and speech features","volume":"54","year":"1973","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_bor74","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.3109\/00016487409126341","article-title":"Stapedius reflex and monaural masking","volume":"78","year":"1974","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_bor75a","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.3109\/00016487509124694","article-title":"The activity of the stapedius muscle in man during vocalization","volume":"79","year":"1975","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_bor75b"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_bus63"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_car63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"598","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.1963.26.4.598","article-title":"Acoustic and non-acoustic factors modifying middle-ear muscle activity in walking cats","volume":"26","year":"1963","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_col94"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_cos83","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"758","DOI":"10.1121\/1.389863","article-title":"Broadband masking noise and behavioral pure-tone thresholds in cats","volume":"74","year":"1983","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_del90","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(90)90106-Y","article-title":"Two-tone rate suppression in auditory-nerve fibers: Dependence on suppressor frequency and level","volume":"49","year":"1990","journal-title":"Hearing Res."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_dor87","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"562","DOI":"10.1121\/1.395133","article-title":"Vowel intelligibility in the absence of the acoustic reflex: performance-intensity characteristics","volume":"81","year":"1987","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_dub95","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3113","DOI":"10.1121\/1.413800","article-title":"Growth of low-pass masking of pure tones and speech for hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners","volume":"98","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_ega50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"622","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1906661","article-title":"On the masking pattern of a simple auditory stimulus","volume":"22","year":"1950","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_fle53"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_gei80","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"317","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(80)90026-X","article-title":"Responses of primary auditory fibers to combined noise and tonal stimuli","volume":"3","year":"1980","journal-title":"Hearing Res."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_gui96"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_gui87","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(87)90031-1","article-title":"Asymmetries in the acoustic reflexes of the cat stapedius muscle","volume":"26","year":"1987","journal-title":"Hearing Res."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_har79"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_jos85","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1002\/cne.902320105","article-title":"Number and distribution of stapedius motoneurons in cats","volume":"232","year":"1985","journal-title":"J. Comp. Neurol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_kaw93","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2533","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.1993.70.6.2533","article-title":"Anti-masking effects of the olivocochlear reflex, II: Enhancement of auditory-nerve response to masked tones","volume":"70","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_kia74","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"620","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1914572","article-title":"Tails of tuning curves of auditory-nerve fibers","volume":"55","year":"1974","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_kry70"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_lic51"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_lid64","first-page":"275","article-title":"Significance of the stapedius reflex for the understanding of speech","volume":"188","year":"1964","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol. Suppl."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_mil47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1037\/h0055960","article-title":"The masking of speech","volume":"44","year":"1947","journal-title":"Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_mol62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1524","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1918384","article-title":"Acoustic reflex in man","volume":"34","year":"1962","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_mol65","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.3109\/00016486509126996","article-title":"An experimental study of the acoustic impedance of the middle ear and its transmission properties","volume":"60","year":"1965","journal-title":"Acta Oto-Laryngol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_mur91"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_ono83","first-page":"494","article-title":"Clinical results of hearing aid with noise-level-controlled selective amplification","volume":"22","year":"1983","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_pan88"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_pan97","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3564","DOI":"10.1121\/1.420147","article-title":"Growth rate of simultaneous masking in cat auditory-nerve fibers: Relationship to the growth of basilar-membrane motion and the origin of two-tone suppression","volume":"102","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_pan"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_pan86"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_rab77"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_raj83","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1016\/0378-5955(83)90009-6","article-title":"Efferent effects elicited by electrical stimulation at the round window of the guinea pig","volume":"12","year":"1983","journal-title":"Hearing Res."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_ras86","first-page":"512","article-title":"Stapedius reflex after stapedectomy with preservation of the stapedius tendon","volume":"100","year":"1986","journal-title":"J. Laryngol. Otol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_sim64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"724","DOI":"10.1177\/000348946407300312","article-title":"Perceptual theories of middle ear muscle function","volume":"73","year":"1964","journal-title":"Ann. Otol. Rhinol. Laryngol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_ste46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1916381","article-title":"The masking of speech by sine waves, square waves, regular and modulated pulses","volume":"18","year":"1946","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_tei73","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"382","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1748-1716.1973.tb05467.x","article-title":"Differential effect of graded contraction of middle ear muscles on the sound transmission of the ear","volume":"88","year":"1973","journal-title":"Acta Physiol. Scand."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_vac89","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"401","DOI":"10.1002\/cne.902890306","article-title":"Intracellularly labeled stapedius-motoneuron cell bodies in the cat are spatially organized according to their physiologic responses","volume":"289","year":"1989","journal-title":"J. Comp. Neurol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_wat63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1918429","article-title":"Masking of tones by noise for cat","volume":"35","year":"1963","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_weg24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"266","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRev.23.266","article-title":"The auditory masking of one pure tone by another and its probable relation to the dynamics of the inner ear","volume":"23","year":"1924","journal-title":"Phys. Rev."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_win87","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1002","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.1987.57.4.1002","article-title":"Effect of electrical stimulation of the crossed olivocochlear bundle on auditory nerve response to tones in noise","volume":"57","year":"1987","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"2023070917334323800_whi75"},{"key":"2023070917334323800_wor95"}],"container-title":["The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/asa\/jasa\/article-pdf\/102\/6\/3576\/10677480\/3576_1_online.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/asa\/jasa\/article-pdf\/102\/6\/3576\/10677480\/3576_1_online.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,9]],"date-time":"2023-07-09T17:33:58Z","timestamp":1688924038000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/jasa\/article\/102\/6\/3576\/471159\/Effects-of-stapedius-muscle-contractions-on-the"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1121\/1.420399","relation":{},"ISSN":["0001-4966","1520-8524"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0001-4966","type":"print"},{"value":"1520-8524","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[1997,12]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]}}}