Masking

DEFINITION: one tone is rendered less perceptible by another auditory stimulus.
Tone Masking
- low tones will mask higher tones better.
- due to shape of travelling wave (skewed towards base,higher frequencies).
Noise Masking
- Noise is sound energy that lacks coherence.
- Beyond a point adding more frequencies to the noise does not increase masking.
- Critical bands: region of basilar membrane where sound energy is summed together.