Auditory masking depends only on energy within a band surrounding the signal.

Evidence

Sound of a given frequency can block our ability to hear softer sounds at nearby frequencies, but distant frequencies are not affected. The threshold for detecting the softer sound is raised by the presence of a louder sound within the same critical bandwidth. Even if the softer sound is audible, it will not seem as loud as it would if played alone. Similarly, two tones that fall within the same critical bandwidth will appear to be less loud together than two tones of the same total energy that fall outside each others’ critical bandwidths. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2009 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Each masker dominates masking only within its own frequency region.; Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2009; Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved (+2 more)

Related

• Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected (similarity 0.93)
• Masker effectiveness is determined solely by power falling within one auditory filter. (similarity 0.91)
• Each masker dominates masking only within its own frequency region. (similarity 0.90)
• Large FM deviations escape narrow-band masking by drifting into unmasked frequency ranges (similarity 0.89)
• Increasing stimulus level broadens auditory filters and causes upward spread of masking (similarity 0.87)
• Masking by bandlimited noise depends only on masker energy within the critical band. (similarity 0.87)
• Masking operates on a continuous scale between audible and fully masked. (similarity 0.87)
• Loud bass masks sounds across much of the audible spectrum, including vocals. (similarity 0.87)
• Psychophysical tuning curves map masker level needed to just mask a fixed tone. (similarity 0.87)
• Equal-level narrow-band maskers mask less at higher centre frequencies (similarity 0.86)
• Masking noise prevents listeners from using unintended spectral cues (similarity 0.86)
• Noise fluctuations within narrow critical bands raise the masking index (similarity 0.86)
• A narrow noise band can mask signals multiple octaves away at high stimulus levels. (similarity 0.86)
• A masker raises the audibility threshold of a test sound. (similarity 0.86)
• Auditory filter bandwidth scales nonlinearly with center frequency (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected #corroborates (0.95) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2009
• Only harmonics separated by more than the ear’s critical bandwidth are resolved #corroborates (0.80)
• The auditory system acts as a band-pass filter at each signal frequency. #expands (0.75)