Masking by Octave Bands of Noise in Normal and Impaired Ears

The masking of sinusoids by three octave lands of thermal noise was measured in normal and hearing-impaired ears at each of two effective noise levels. For frequencies within the noise band results were essentially equivalent for all groups studied at either effective level. At frequencies both above and below the noise band no differences among groups were noted at the 10-db effective level. At the 30-db effective level, however, both presbycusics and sensori-neural losses of presumably cochlear origin showed more masking than either normals, plugged normals, or conductives.