Critical bandwidth marks the perceptual shift from rough to smooth tone resolution

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: AM and FM sidebands become perceptually identical once spacing exceeds the critical bandwidth.; Roughness-versus-modulation-frequency curves shift shape across carrier frequencies; Roughness grows faster with modulation depth for tones than for noise (+11 more)

Related

• Critical bandwidth corresponds to the masker frequency range that fills a single auditory filter (similarity 0.89)
• Noise fluctuations within narrow critical bands raise the masking index (similarity 0.89)
• The critical bandwidth at 1 kHz measures about 150 Hz via phase detectability. (similarity 0.89)
• The critical-band-rate scale mirrors hearing better than raw frequency (similarity 0.88)
• Large FM deviations escape narrow-band masking by drifting into unmasked frequency ranges (similarity 0.88)
• Critical bandwidth is measured through masking effects rather than direct perception (similarity 0.88)
• Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected (similarity 0.87)
• Critical bandwidth varies a hundredfold across the audible range. (similarity 0.87)
• Psychophysical tuning curves map masker level needed to just mask a fixed tone. (similarity 0.87)
• Perceived roughness to smoothness shifts exactly at the critical bandwidth boundary (similarity 0.86)
• Perceived dissonance arises when nearby harmonics fall within critical bandwidth (similarity 0.86)
• Auditory filter bandwidth scales nonlinearly with center frequency (similarity 0.86)
• White noise masked thresholds rise 10 dB per decade above 1 kHz (similarity 0.85)
• Auditory masking depends only on energy within a band surrounding the signal. (similarity 0.85)
• Consonance and dissonance judgments stem from critical bandwidth mechanics (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected #expands (0.90) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2009