Comodulation masking release in bit-rate reduction systems

It has been suggested that the level dependence of the upper masking slope be utilized in perceptual models in bit-rate reduction systems. However, comodulation masking release (CMR) phenomena lead to a reduction of the masking effect when a masker and a probe signal are amplitude modulated with the same frequency. In bit-rate reduction systems the masker would be the audio signal and the probe signal would represent the quantization noise. Masking curves have been determined for sinusoids and 1-Bark-wide noise maskers in order to investigate the risk of CMR, when quantizing depths are fixed in accordance with psycho-acoustical principles. Masker frequencies of 500 Hz, 1 kHz, and 2 kHz have been investigated, and the masking of pure tone probes has been determined in the first four 1/3 octaves above the masker. Modulation frequencies between 6 and 20 Hz were used with a modulation depth of 0.75. A CMR of up to 10 dB was obtained at a distance of 6 Bark above the masker. The amount of CMR was found to depend on the presentation level of the masker; a higher masker level leads to a higher CMR effect. Hence, the risk of CMR affecting the subjective performance of bit-rate reduction systems cannot be ruled out.