Broadband noise yields better intensity discrimination than pure tones by engaging multiple frequency regions

Evidence

To better understand why the near miss happens, consider the following example. For a pure tone at 2000 Hz presented at 60 dB SL, the JND for intensity discrimination (DL) is approximately 0.9 dB (see Figure 4–12). The JND for this pure tone is not nearly as small as the JND for noise, suggesting that when noise is presented, the auditory system uses multiple frequency regions to discriminate between sounds with different intensities. To illustrate how the ear might be able to improve its detection with increasing stimulus level, we look to the excitation pattern, which provides a psychoacoustical representation of the spectral information available to the ear. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 826

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Noise intensity discrimination improves by pooling multiple frequency regions (similarity 0.96)
• Higher-frequency auditory filters carry more intensity-difference information than the signal-centered filter (similarity 0.86)
• Wide bandwidth noise sounds as loud as a narrower tone despite lower level (similarity 0.84)
• Auditory threshold for broadband noise is set by the most sensitive frequency region only (similarity 0.84)
• Broad filters and lost suppression increase masking and blur spectral contrasts. (similarity 0.83)
• Increasing intensity improves frequency discrimination, much more at low frequencies (similarity 0.83)
• Wider auditory filters admit excess noise that fully obscures high-frequency formants (similarity 0.83)
• Noise fluctuations within narrow critical bands raise the masking index (similarity 0.83)
• A narrow noise band can mask signals multiple octaves away at high stimulus levels. (similarity 0.83)
• Narrowband noises contain fewer frequencies and show greater amplitude fluctuations than broadband noise. (similarity 0.83)
• Broad-band noise masking erases individual differences in quiet threshold (similarity 0.83)
• Level discrimination for broadband noise is level-independent above 40 dB sound pressure (similarity 0.82)
• Loudness at high sound levels arises from excitation spreading across adjacent frequency bands (similarity 0.82)
• Added masking noise prevents off-frequency cues in hearing experiments (similarity 0.82)
• The near miss to Weber’s law results from off-frequency auditory filters coding intensity (similarity 0.82)