Methods, systems, and devices for determining a stimulus based on a masking model of human hearing are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a signal that includes information indicative of one or more spectral components of a sound. The example method also includes determining a masking curve that includes information indicative of one or more masking spectral components. The masking curve is determined according to a masking model of human hearing that accounts for at least an effect due to temporal masking. The example method further includes generating a stimulus based on a difference between the one or more spectral components and the one or more masking spectral components. The stimulation allows a recipient to perceive at least a portion of the sound.
