Invariant characteristics of partial masking: Implications for mathematical models

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Abstract
The loudness of a tone in a noisy background increases very rapidly above its threshold with increasing intensity of the tone. The particular curve describing loudness growth as measured by a loudness matching paradigm depends on the level of the background noise. An increment in masking noise was hypothesized to induce a shift of the loudness matching curve in a diagonal direction (the matching curve was plotted in conventional log-log coordinates). This shift invariance held empirically for individual subjects within a monaural loudness matching task, based on a 21FC paradigm using 1000 Hz tones and a wide band Gaussian noise. Shift invariance placed considerable restrictions on models. In conjunction with a very general class of models involving the notion of gain control, the shift invariance property determined all parametric forms possible for the loudness matching functions. The fit of these parametric expressions was good. The resulting model was consistent with reported values.

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