Binaural versus monaural loudness: supersummation of tone partially masked by noise

Abstract

A series of three experiments used the method of magnitude estimation to examine binaural summation of the loudness of a 1000-Hz tone heard in the quiet and against various backgrounds of masking noise. In the quiet, binaural loudness as measured in sones, is twice monaural loudness. Two conditions of noise masking acted to increase the ratio of binaural/monaural loudness in sones above 2:1--that is, to produce supersummation. (1) When tone was presented to both ears, but masking noise to just one ear (dichotic stimulation), the loudness of the binaural tone was 30%-35% greater than the sum of the loudness of the monaural components. This increase in summation provides a suprathreshold analog to increases in threshold sensitivity observed with dichotic stimulation (masking-level differences). (2) Supersummation was also evident when tone and noise alike were presented to both ears (diotic stimulation); here, the binaural tone's loudness was 10%-25% greater than the sum of the monaural components. The increase in summation with diotic stimulation may be related to the characteristics of binaural summation of the noise masker itself.