PHASE BEHAVIOR OF THE PRIMARIES IN DISTORTION PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Current analysis of nonlinear distortion phenomena is often based on the perturbation approximation assumption that the response of the basilar membrane (BM) to a pair of input tones is a simple superposition of the responses to the tones as if they were separately inputted [1]. Moreover, the estimate of the phase delays between the distortion product (DP) responses on the BM and those detected as frequency components of otoacoustic emissions are based on the concept that the cochlear partition behaves as a transmission line. Frequency-domain simulations based on a nonlinear hydrodynamic model of the human cochlea [2,3] lead to results that contrast both such beliefs