Twelve normal hearers were evaluated with a competing letter test. Letters B, C, D, G, etc., or F, L, M, etc., were presented in rhyming pairs, with one letter going to each ear. In the initial experiment, speech was delivered to one ear at a constant (20 dB SL) level while the speech intensity in the opposite ear was increased from 10 to 70 dB. The performance score in the variable ear increased in percent correct up to about 94% at 40 dB. The performance in the constant ear deteriorated as the opposite ear improved. When the intensity of the variable ear reached the 50‐dB level, the curve of the constant ear leveled off at about 30%. At the 60 dB level in the variable ear, both ears improved. At 70 dB, performance was reduced bilaterally. In order to rule out the possibility of a “60‐dB mechanism” in the auditory system, a second group of 12 subjects was tested with the constant ear at 30 dB and the variable ear increasing from 20 to 80 dB. In this experiment, the peak improvement in the constant ear was obvious at 70 dB instead of 60 dB, as observed in the 20‐dB condition. Another experiment demonstrated that the peak improvement in the constant ear occurred at a level 36–38 dB below the intensity of the variable ear.