Taiwan's partisan newspapers have been filled with so many suggestive details - a reportedly ill-gotten Tiffany diamond ring, to name one - that the noise and acrimony have obscured the more elemental issue that the island's young democracy is being severely tested.

The sole surviving crew member, Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Walter Köhler, stated that he was on the bridge with three ratings at the time of the attack, and that the noise of the diesel engines obscured the sound of the attacking aircraft until the moment of weapons release.

The noise on a record can obscure details in the sound.

A suitable analogy would be when a television begins to "snow" or experience "white noise", when static begins to appear on the screen, distorting or obscuring the image.

In the frequent 'kleines pauses' they continued talking, but the noise of the crowd obscured their hearing, and they often found themselves misunderstanding each other.

She could hear the Giants singing overhead, though the noise of the Sea obscured their words.

The noise of their play momentar- ily obscured the wailing pitch of a scream, a sound absorbed by the spaxtina grass on the opposite bank.

The noises of the rain and the willow tree obscured the melody.

This noise obscures the signal of interest, which is the sequence of underlying ERPs under study.

All this noise obscured an essential truth.