Masking experiments in humans and birds using anthropogenic noises

Abstract

This study investigated the masking of pure tones by anthropogenic noises in humans and birds. Bird experiments were conducted in the laboratory using operant conditioning and psychophysical procedures but with anthropogenic noises rather than white noise. Humans were tested using equivalent psychophysical procedures in the field with ambient background noise. Results show that for both humans and birds published critical ratios can be used to predict the masking thresholds for pure tones by these complex noises. Thus, the species’ critical ratio can be used to estimate the effect of anthropogenic environmental noises on the perception of communication and other biologically relevant sounds.