Masking shifts detection thresholds and may affect just-noticeable sound changes

Evidence

Often when listening to music or speech we cannot listen in the quiet. Additional tones or noises influence just-noticeable sound changes. Such influences must occur because the threshold in quiet is shifted upwards to become a masked threshold. The important question is whether additional sound that produces partial masking influences just-noticeable sound changes only in the neighbourhood of the masked threshold or also at higher levels. This question can be answered if just-noticeable modulations are measured as a function of level under noisy conditions. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1103

Categorization

• QUESTION: Whether partial masking affects just-noticeable modulations at supra-threshold levels remains an open question this chapter frames but does not fully resolve.