Auditory threshold for broadband noise is set by the most sensitive frequency region only

Evidence

The difference between the dependencies for masked threshold and for threshold in quiet becomes understandable from the following fact: threshold in quiet is effectively measured for a small frequency range only, namely that for which the hearing system is most sensitive. This means that threshold for broad-band noise in quiet is, in effect, measured with a narrow-band test sound with a frequency content around 3 kHz. Hence. threshold in quiet for the broad-band noise is similar to that for a narrow-band centred near the most sensitive frequency range of the hearing system. Components of the noise that lie outside the lllost sensitive frequency range seem to be ignored. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 497

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains why broadband threshold in quiet is dominated by the ~3 kHz most-sensitive region rather than the whole spectrum.