The amplitude of the psychoacoustic distortion product2 f1−f2elicited by primariesf1andf2depends on the method of measurement. The cancellation-tone procedure gives consistently higher estimates of the distortion product than nonsimultaneous procedures. It was suggested that the difference could be attributed to suppression effects by the lower primaryf1[Smoorenburg, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.52, 615–632 (1972)]. Simulations carried out with a computational model of the auditory periphery including a single, but distributed, compressive nonlinearity confirm the hypothesis; the amount of suppression produced at2 f1−f2byf1equals the difference between simultaneous and nonsimultaneous methods of measuring the amplitude of the distortion product. This is in agreement with psychoacoustical data [Shannon and Houtgast, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.68, 825–829 (1980)]. The model also reveals the importance of suppression effects byf1to bring the phase of the traveling wave associated with the cancellation tone2 f1−f2in exact opposition with that of the distortion product2 f1−f2generated by the primaries. There is also evidence of suppression effects by the higher primaryf2whenL2≫L1.In the model, cancellation occurs over a substantial portion of the basilar membrane near the characteristic place for2 f1−f2.