Masked threshold for a phase incremented pulsed tone atfh+f1or at 2fh+f1was measured in the presence of phase‐synchronized maskersfhandf1. The frequency off1was either 250, 500, or 1000 Hz and the ratiofh/f1was fixed at 1.2. The amplitude of the menaural phase effect varied with the level of the primaries, being smaller at the high and low extremes of the range of primary amplitudes. Growth of masking is frequency dependent. Combination tone estimates were calculated based on the assumption that the menaural phase effect is the result of interaction between an aural combination tone and the maskee. Analysis of the growth rates does not permit rejection of a frequency‐independent nonlinear mechanism for their generation.