Uniform exciting noise delivers equal intensity to every critical band

Evidence

The spectral distribution of a sound can be either narrow or broad. The narrowest sound with respect to bandwidth, is a sinusoidal tone. The sound being most broad and at the same time most equally distributed - not with respect to physical values but with respect to the characteristics of the human ear - is uniform exciting noise. This noise produces the same intensity for each critical band. It indicates the end of a scale that represents a sinusoidal tone at one end and the uniform exciting noise at the other; different spectral bandwidths fall in between. If loudness depends on spectral effects, the uniform-exciting noise ought to produce the biggest effect. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1189

The sound being most broad and at the same time most equally distributed - not with respect to physical values but with respect to the characteristics of the human ear - is uniform exciting noise. This noise produces the same intensity for each critical band. It indicates the end of a scale that represents a sinusoidal tone at one end and the uniform exciting noise at the other; different spectral bandwidths fall in between. If loudness depends on spectral effects, the uniform-exciting noise ought to produce the biggest effect. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1189

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘uniform exciting noise’ concept — a stimulus normalized to the ear’s own critical-band resolution rather than to physical spectra.
• XREF: Ties directly to the critical-band model central to psychoacoustics; connects to cochlear filtering and auditory peripheral processing. — connects to: Fletcher defined critical bands as noise regions whose power equals a just-masked tone’s — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 865; Loudness rises once noise bandwidth exceeds the critical band at constant SPL.; Loudness grows when sound energy spills beyond a single critical band — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 667 (+3 more)
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1189

Broader Connections

• White noise carries constant power per hertz across the human hearing range #corroborates (0.82) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 408
• Spreading a sound’s energy across more critical bands increases perceived loudness without raising intensity #expands (0.78) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 665
• Loudness grows when sound energy spills beyond a single critical band #corroborates (0.75) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 667
• Threshold in quiet depends on total sound intensity within one critical band only #contradicts (0.72) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 888