Subject: What is the intensity window of human hearing?

What is the instantaneous intensity window of normal human hearing? I.e. what is
the true range of intensitites we can hear at any one time? We have a dynamic
range of 0 dB to 130 dB (threshold of pain), but we cannot hear the entire
dynamic range all at once.

In a very calm surrounding we can hear leaves rustling, but if the surrounding
becomes louder, the quieter sounds become drowned in the louder ones. The window
moves so that the loudest sound becomes the new upper limit, and the quieter
sounds fall outside of the lower limit of the window.

I would guess maybe around 30 dB, but I have very little knowledge in
physiology, and this is also possibly quite an advanced question, so I dare not
rely on my guess alone. I may also have made some mistakes in my basic research
on human hearing.

Re: What is the intensity window of human hearing?