Abstract
Pure-tone and speech most-comfortable-loudness levels (MCLs) were determined in noise and quiet. A Békésy-type tracking task was used to determine the MCLs under all conditions. During the first phase, the subjects (N = 12) tracked their MCLs for five pure-tone frequencies (250, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz) in the presence of four white-noise levels (55, 65, 75, and 85 dB SPL) and in quiet. During the second phase, speech MCLs were tracked under the noise conditions identical to those of the tones. The results indicated that the mean MCLs for tones between 500–4000 Hz, and for the speech stimuli, systematically increased as a function of the masker level. The rate of this increase was about 7 dB/10-dB noise increment for both stimulus modes when the level of the noise exceeded 65 dB. At noise levels below 65 dB SPL, pure-tone MCL increases were only about 3 dB/10-dB noise increment, while the slope of the speech MCL function remained relatively unchanged. The results further indicated that the variability of MCL judgments for both stimulus modes decreased as a function of increased masking. The present MCL data were related to other investigations of loudness growth in noise.
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