Loudness measures span quiet, masked, spectral, and temporal domains

Evidence

Loudness belongs to the category of intensity sensations. The stimulussensation relation cannot be constructed from the just-noticeable intensity variations directly, but has to be obtained from results of other types of measurement such as magnitude estimation. In addition to loudness, loudness level is also important. This is not only a sensation value but belongs somewhere between sensation and physical values. Besides loudness in quiet, we often hear the loudness of partially masked sounds. This loudness occurs when a masking sound is heard in addition to the sound in question. The remaining loudness ranges between a loudness of “zero”, which corresponds to the masked threshold, and the loudness of the partially masked sound is mostly much smaller than the loudness range available for unmasked sound. Partial masking can appear not only with simultaneously presented maskers but also with temporary shifted maskers. Thus the effects of partially masked loudness are both spectral and temporal. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1168

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the domain structure of loudness sensation: partial masking is both spectral and temporal.