Explanations for the phenomenon known as comodulation masking release (CMR) generally assume that temporal envelope information from different peripheral filters is compared, thus entailing multiple envelope representations. Here it is shown that a leaky‐integrator model, yielding a single envelope representation extracted from a broad frequency range, provides an alternative account of CMR. One prediction obtained from model simulations is that adding a single tone to the stimulus will disrupt the CMR effect, leading to an increase in thresholds. Supporting evidence from several experiments shows that the magnitude of CMR is reduced following the addition of a single tone, even when separated from comodulated masking and flanking bands by more than an octave. Whereas these findings are consistent with the leaky‐integrator model, they cannot be easily explained by models which assume multiple envelope representations.