Masking is often assessed by quantifying changes, due to increasing noise, to an animal's communication or listening range. While the methods used to measure communication or listening ranges are functionally similar if used for vocalizations, they differ in their approaches: communication range is focused on the sender's call, while the listening range is centered on the listener's ability to perceive any signal. How these two methods differ in their use and output is important for management recommendations. Therefore it was investigated how these two methods may alter the conclusions of masking assessments based on Atlantic cod calls in the presence of a commercial air gun array. The two methods diverged with increasing distance from the masking noise source with maximum effects lasting longer between air gun pulses in terms of communication range than listening range. Reductions in the cod's communication ranges were sensitive to fluctuations in the call's source level. That instability was not observed for the listening range. Overall, changes to the cod's communication range were more conservative but very sensitive to the call source level. A high level of confidence in the call is therefore required, while confidence in the receiver's audiogram and soundscape is required for the listening range method.

中文翻译：

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评估听觉掩蔽以管理水下人为噪声。

掩蔽通常通过量化由于噪声增加而引起的动物交流或听觉范围变化来评估。虽然用于发声的测量通信或听觉范围的方法在功能上相似，但是它们的方法有所不同：通信范围集中在发送者的呼叫上，而听觉范围则集中在听者感知任何信号的能力上。这两种方法的用法和输出如何不同对于管理建议很重要。因此，研究了在商业气枪阵列的存在下，这两种方法如何改变基于大西洋鳕鱼的掩蔽评估的结论。两种方法随着距掩蔽噪声源距离的增加而发散，在通讯距离方面，最大效果在气枪脉冲之间持续的时间比收听范围更长。鳕鱼的交流范围减少对呼叫源水平的波动很敏感。在收听范围内未观察到这种不稳定性。总体而言，鳕鱼的通讯范围变化较为保守，但对呼叫源级别非常敏感。因此，要求对通话具有高度的信心，而对于收听范围方法，则需要对接收者的听力图和音景有信心。在收听范围内未观察到这种不稳定性。总体而言，鳕鱼的通讯范围变化较为保守，但对呼叫源级别非常敏感。因此，要求对通话具有高度的信心，而对于收听范围方法，则需要对接收者的听力图和音景有信心。在收听范围内未观察到这种不稳定性。总体而言，鳕鱼的通讯范围变化较为保守，但对呼叫源级别非常敏感。因此，要求对通话具有高度的信心，而对于收听范围方法，则需要对接收者的听力图和音景有信心。