Critical bands are frequency ranges within the human ear where different sounds can interfere with each other, affecting our perception of loudness and pitch. This concept is fundamental in understanding auditory masking, where sounds within the same critical band can obscure each other, influencing audio encoding and psychoacoustics.

Critical Bands

Critical bands

frequency ranges

human ear

different sounds

perception of loudness

Perception of pitch

Auditory masking is a phenomenon where the perception of one sound is affected by the presence of another sound, often making the first sound less audible. This occurs when sounds overlap in frequency and time, leading to a temporary threshold shift in hearing sensitivity.

auditory masking

sounds within the same critical band

obscure each other

influencing audio encoding

Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of the perception of sound, exploring how humans interpret and experience auditory stimuli. It combines elements of psychology and acoustics to understand phenomena such as pitch, loudness, and timbre perception, as well as auditory illusions and spatial hearing.

psychoacoustics

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