A masker only shifts thresholds that already lie below its EML.

Evidence

For example, if a patient’s absolute threshold is measured in quiet at 10 dB HL, and then this patient’s threshold is measured in the presence of a 40-dB EML noise, his threshold will become 40 dB HL in that noise. On the other hand, a patient with an absolute threshold of 60 dB HL will not experience any masking by this noise, as his absolute threshold is greater than the dB EML of the noise. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 585

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concrete worked example clarifying what dB EML means in practice.