# Acoustics - Critical Bandwidths ?

Hello!

I'm getting a bit confused with how to deal with sound waves that are within one critical bandwidth of each other.

I do not fully understand how you are meant to combine the intensities of sound waves when they lie within one critical bandwidth?! I would really appreciate some clarity as I am getting very muddled!

I understand that separately (out with a critical band) the sum of the individual intensities would be more than that of the combined (within one critical bandwidth) intensities. This is where my confusion arises, I don't understand how exactly you can combine these intensities to get the overall result (from which I could evaluate the intensity level) .....the material online seems to conflict....

Basically, if I have two sounds, in one critical bandwidth, I can separately deduce their intensities, but then to evaluate the total intensity, am I meant to sum them, or take an average? By summing them I get an enormous value, which doesn't seem to correlate with the idea that the overall intensity should be smaller. But this is the approach that I have been finding online.

Any ideas/help????!?