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We investigated the sensitivity change of multiple-elevated-temperature (MET) stimulated post-infrared infrared-stimulated luminescence (MET-pIRIR) signals as a response to irradiation, sunlight bleaching and heating using samples from the Mu Us Desert, central China. A strong dose dependence of MET-pIRIR signal sensitivity was observed. The intensity of the test-dose signals (T-x) increase with the pre-dose received. Furthermore, the signal sensitivity can be reset by sunlight bleaching or heating. This suggests that both the electron traps and hole centres in K-feldspar can be bleached by sunlight, and can, therefore, be used for dating. Using the test-dose signal as a monitor for sensitivity change, it was found that the sensitivity (or hole centres) saturate at a higher dose (D-0 = similar to 750 Gy) than the sensitivity-corrected signals (or electron traps) (D-0 = similar to 400 Gy). We propose a multi-aliquot regenerative-dose (MAR) MET-pIRIR dating protocol, which utilises the high saturation dose of hole centres. This protocol was tested using aeolian sediments from north China with ages ranging from 0 to 470 ka. It was found that, compared to the dose limit of similar to 800-1000 Gy using the normal MET-pIRIR or pIRIR procedure, the new method can measure a natural dose of up to similar to 1500 Gy and produce ages consistent with the expected ages for the samples investigated. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.