Loudness enhancement following contralateral stimulation.

Abstract

The apparent loudness of a tone pip can be increased by 15 dB or more if it is preceded by a tone burst to the contralateral ear. The experiment is done by delaying the pip, S1, by a variable time, Delta-T, after the offset of a contralateral tone; the listener assesses the loudness of S1 by adjusting the intensity of a second tone pip, S2, that follows S1 by 1500 msec. Some parametric explorations of the phenomenon are reported here.