Lesson plan

Hypersonic effect

The hypersonic effect is a phenomenon reported in a controversial scientific study by Tsutomu Oohashi et al., which claims that, although humans cannot consciously hear ultrasound (sounds at frequencies above approximately 20 kHz), the presence or absence of those frequencies has a measurable effect on their physiological and psychological reactions. Numerous other studies have contradicted the portion of the results relating to the subjective reaction to high-frequency audio, finding that people who have "good ears" listening to Super Audio CDs and high resolution DVD-Audio recordings on high fidelity systems capable of reproducing sounds up to cannot tell the difference between high resolution audio and the normal CD sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

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Article summary

The hypersonic effect is a phenomenon reported in a controversial scientific study by Tsutomu Oohashi et al., which claims that, although humans cannot consciously hear ultrasound (sounds at frequencies above approximately 20 kHz), the presence or absence of those frequencies has a measurable effect on their physiological and psychological reactions. Numerous other studies have contradicted the portion of the results relating to the subjective reaction to high-frequency audio, finding that people who have "good ears" listening to Super Audio CDs and high resolution DVD-Audio recordings on high fidelity systems capable of reproducing sounds up to cannot tell the difference between high resolution audio and the normal CD sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 2000 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "2000". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1344458012

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.