Predictions of the magnitude of tonal content on the basis of partial loudness

Abstract

Environmental sounds containing clearly audible tonal components are considered to be more annoying than sounds without these components. Several standards include sections dedicated to the assessment of tonal components in sound. These standards have in common that they estimate the magnitude of the tonal components (in the following referred to as tonalness) as the level above the noise background. Recent studies indicate that partial loudness of the tonal component determines the tonalness. The present study tests this hypothesis by comparing experimental data on tonalness of sounds with multiple tonal components with predictions of a loudness model. It is shown that partial loudness is a better predictor of the perception of tonal portions of a sound than the intensity. This approach may be useful for future standardization of the perception of clearly audible tonal components in noise.