Masking of Speech by Repeated Bursts of Noise

The masking of speech by a periodically interrupted white noise was examined over a wide range of noise levels, rates of interruption, and noise‐time fractions. To a first approximation, the masking produced by an interrupted noise is a constant fraction of that produced by a continuous uninterrupted noise. The masking produced by an interrupted noise is primarily a function of the interval between successive noise bursts and is relatively independent of the noise‐time fraction and the rate of interruption of the noise, except insofar as these determine the interval between noise bursts. The effect of interrupted noise on the loudness of speech was also examined.