Low-level tones mask lower frequencies more than higher ones, reversing at high levels

Evidence

When two or more pure tones are heard together an effect known as “masking” can occur, where each individual tone can become more diffi­ cult or impossible to perceive, or it is partially or completely “masked,” due to the presence of another tone. In such a case the tone which causes the masking is known as the “masker” and the tone which is masked is known as the “maskee.” These tones could be individual pure tones, but, given the rarity of such sounds in music, they are more likely to be individual fre­ quency components of a note played on one instrument which mask either other components in that note, or frequency components of another note. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1628 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Low-frequency tones become relatively louder as level increases.; Low-pass noise cutoff discrimination degrades with level while high-pass cutoff does not — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1074; Raising a tone’s level lowers low-frequency pitch but raises high-frequency pitch (+6 more)

Related

• Loud low-frequency tones mask high frequencies more than high tones mask low. (similarity 0.96)
• Simultaneous tones become harder to perceive due to masking effects (similarity 0.94)
• Loud tones can render simultaneous tones partially or wholly imperceptible (similarity 0.92)
• Increasing stimulus level broadens auditory filters and causes upward spread of masking (similarity 0.90)
• One tone can make another tone inaudible through masking (similarity 0.90)
• Masking spreads from a noise band to tones further away as masker level rises (similarity 0.88)
• Tonal masker spread inverts from low to high frequencies as masker level rises (similarity 0.87)
• Masking acts within critical bandwidths, leaving distant-frequency sounds unaffected (similarity 0.86)
• Louder maskers increasingly mask high frequencies over low ones. (similarity 0.86)
• LP distortion is audible with test tones but masked by music. (similarity 0.86)
• Low-frequency maskers mask high-frequency signals more than the reverse, and this worsens with intensity. (similarity 0.86)
• Two-tone suppression lets strong signal components override weaker nearby ones (similarity 0.86)
• Upward masking makes intermodulation difference tones more audible than harmonics (similarity 0.86)
• Masked tones recover pitch strength as their level rises above masked threshold (similarity 0.85)
• Similar frequencies mask each other by competing for the same cochlear location. (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Loud low-frequency tones mask high frequencies more than high tones mask low. #corroborates (0.95)
• Simultaneous tones become harder to perceive due to masking effects #expands (0.75) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1628