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Additive masking effects of noise bands of different levels
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Additive masking effects of noise bands of different levels

Arnold M Small and Richard S Tyler
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol.63(3), pp.894-904
03/1978
DOI: 10.1121/1.381769
PMID: 670557

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Abstract

The simultaneous, ipsilateral masking of a sinusoid of frequency fs (600–860 Hz), located near the common cutoff frequency fc (750 Hz) of a low‐pass and high‐pass noise was examined as a function of the level of each of the bands. The pressure spectrum level of the high‐frequency band Lh ranged from 5–50 dB re 20 μPa in 15‐dB steps and the level of the low‐frequency band L1 was from 0–24 dB down from each of these levels. The computer‐synthesized noise provided a spectral step function transition at fc. The data generated by each of the three listeners in the 4IFC adaptive task was virtually identical. When fs≫fc masking was determined simply by Lh, and when fs≪fc masking was generally equal to but sometimes greater than that attributable solely to L1. When fs?fc, masking was intermediate relative to the asymptotic values just mentioned. The data are consistent with a conceptual auditory filter which has a Gaussian shape, an equivalent rectangular width of 110 Hz (for the limited frequency range considered), and a center frequency which is shifted away from the high‐band noise relative to fs. These characteristics are not dependent on Lh although the asymmetry of filter positioning is weakly related to L1−Lh. The data are also consistent with a model which postulates that masking is a function of the simple sum of the masker power derived from the low‐band, high‐band, and internal noise appearing at the filter output.

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