That is a massively interesting read. The experiments cannot easily be repeated on ourselves, let's stick to subjective for this:
A custom-made stainless-steel head-restraint post was fixed on the bone [of the mouse] on top of the left hemisphere, and used to head-fix the animals. Using a scalpel, a craniotomy was performed just above the auditory cortex.
Surprisingly high levels of noise were induced, compared to the actual signal
Pure tones [...] were played [...] at 60 dB SPL [...]
For the WN experiments [...] 50 dB SPL (bandwidth of 1 to 64kHz) was played in addition to the tones
In the past I performed an experiment on myself, playing
pink noise in the background (at work) at a level just above my hearing threshold. Subsequently I needed to turn down the volume a few times; somehow the steady hiss increased acuity and forced me to redefine "background".
I also noticed that turning the noise down below conscious hearing level didn't make it imperceptible. It
did become unpleasant, perhaps because my brain couldn't link the (sound)pressure to something audible anymore?
PS: pink noise is much more agreeable to me than white noise, apparently I like curves
(* insert obscene picture supplied by Thomas here *)