title: Masking
text: # Masking
  
  Masking can mean:
  
  ## Arts and media
  
  * Backmasking, a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track meant to be played forward
  * Masking (art), protecting a selected area from change during production, as with tape and stencils
  * Masking (illustration), an art technique that influences the intended perception of a character
  
  ## Data protection
  
  * Data masking, replacing data with random characters or data to conceal sensitive information
     * Blinded experiment, in which data is masked to prevent bias
  * Masking (Electronic Health Record), patient-requested concealment of information from healthcare providers
  * Masking and unmasking by intelligence agencies, to protect the privacy of unintentional surveillance targets
  * Sound masking, intentional introduction of background sounds to improve comfort and privacy
  
  ## Sensory phenomena
  
  * Auditory masking, sensory phenomena where perception of one sound is affected by another
     * Temporal masking
     * Simultaneous masking
  * Visual masking
  * Backward masking, in psychovisual or psychoacoustics
  
  ## Other technologies
  
  * Mask (computing), AND'ing or OR'ing a bit pattern with another bit pattern to select certain bits
  * Masking agent, a reagent used in chemical analysis which reacts with chemical species which may interfere in the analysis
  * Sound masking, intentional introduction of background sounds to improve comfort and privacy
  * Spectral mask, a method for reducing adjacent-channel interference in broadcast applications
  
  ## Other uses
  
  * Masking (personality), in which an individual changes their personality to conform to social pressure
  * Autistic masking, the suppression of autistic behaviors and compensation of social difficulties in autistic people
  * Female masking, a form of male cross-dressing
  * Applying or using a facial mask
  