We compare psychophysical tuning curves obtained with sinusoidal and narrow‐band (50‐Hz wide) noise maskers in both simultaneous and forward masking. In one experiment, we examine the effects of different combinations of duration and intensity of the 1‐kHz sinusoidal signal. In a second experiment, we compare tuning curves obtained with a sinusoidal signal to those obtained with a noise signal. In both experiments, a narrow‐band noise is a more effective simultaneous masker than a sinusoid for masker frequencies near the signal frequency. We argue that this is probably due to the use of different detection cues in the presence of sinusoidal and noise maskers, and that the greater masking produced by the noise is not simply due to its greater variability. As observed in other studies, tuning curves are narrower in forward masking than in simultaneous masking.