Perceptual Masking in Multiple Sound Backgrounds

Shifts in masked spondee thresholds during several conditions of listening (monaural, homophasic, antiphasic, and with interaural time disparity) in the presence of one to four competing maskers were measured. The maskers used were white noise, white noise modulated four times per second by 10 dB with a 50% duty cycle, the same noise with 75% duty cycle, connected speech by one male talker, and connected speech by a second male talker. Results from three experiments that employed various permutations of the aforementioned conditions are reported. The findings, after equating conditions to equivalent masker levels, were four. First, the modulated noise with 50% duty cycle produced about 3.5 dB less masking than that produced by unmodulated white noise. Second, the modulated noise with 75% duty cycle allowed only about 1 dB less shift than did the unmodulated noise. Third, mixing one speech train with noise (either modulated or unmodulated) induced about 3.2 dB excess masking. This excess is here termed perceptual masking. Fourth, perceptual masking rose to 6.6 dB when two speech trains were included in the masker complex, irrespective of whether or not noise was also part of the complex. The findings support the hypothesis that successive stages of perceptual masking arise as the task of signal sorting becomes more exacting for the listener. Related studies are discussed in this connection.