Maskers affect modulation detection through their excitation patterns, not their raw level

Evidence

The influence of partial masking can be summarized as follows: each masker produces an excitation pattern that is described for broad-band noises by main excitations, and for narrow-band noises by slope excitations and main excitations. For signal levels more than 20 dB above this defined excitation pattern of the masker, the masker scarcely influences the thresholds for modulation. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1115

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines the excitation-pattern framework: broad-band noises yield main excitations, narrow-band noises yield slope plus main excitations, and the ‘20 dB above’ rule predicts when masking stops mattering.

Related

• Maskers’ influence on modulation thresholds vanishes beyond 20 dB above their excitation pattern. (similarity 0.96)
• Masking relates closely to excitation level patterns. (similarity 0.86)
• Masking barely affects modulation perception once signals sit 20 dB above masked threshold (similarity 0.86)
• Excitation patterns can be computed from masking data in either direction (similarity 0.86)
• Masking reduces to a comparison of excitation-level patterns over frequency and time (similarity 0.85)
• Maskers below a tone raise its pitch while maskers above lower it. (similarity 0.85)
• Partially masked sounds have a reduced loudness range in both time and spectrum (similarity 0.85)
• Masking shifts detection thresholds and may affect just-noticeable sound changes (similarity 0.84)
• Masking is graded, with partial masking reducing loudness rather than audibility. (similarity 0.84)
• Partial masking reduces loudness without fully hiding the test tone (similarity 0.84)
• Masking shifts thresholds upward and may alter just-noticeable sound changes at all levels. (similarity 0.83)
• Equal-level narrow-band maskers mask less at higher centre frequencies (similarity 0.83)
• Masking by bandlimited noise depends only on masker energy within the critical band. (similarity 0.83)
• The minimum masker excitation within its modulation cycle sets masked threshold (similarity 0.83)
• Louder maskers increasingly mask high frequencies over low ones. (similarity 0.82)