Temporary hearing losses were observed for 20‐min exposures to pure‐tone frequencies (500, 1000, 2000, 4000 cps), which were independently mixed in various strengths with a broad‐band noise to create different exposure conditions involving a strong tonal component in a noise field. The over‐all (combined pure‐tone/noise) SPL for all conditions was fixed at 105 dB and the resultant losses were compared to those caused by equivalent exposures to just the broad band noise (referred to as the continuous‐spectrum‐noise condition). The pure‐tone/noise combinations produced greater threshold losses than the continuous‐spectrum noise primarily when the pure tone was of low frequency (below 2000 cps) and contained most of the available energy in the sound field. These more prominent pure‐tone exposures exceeded the criteria set forth by the U. S. Air Force 160‐3 Noise Regulation for identifying those conditions of strong pure‐tone energy in noise that are believed more hazardous to hearing. However, other pronounced pure‐tone conditions in this study also met these criteria even though they gave no evidence for increased hazard to hearing when their postexposure losses were compared with those of the continuous‐spectrum noise. The findings were discussed with regard to the action of the acoustic reflex that has been proposed to account for the differences in the ability of pure tones and noise to cause hearing loss.