On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Paul Davis <paul@linuxaudiosystems.com> wrote:

although i'm skeptical, i'm willing to leave a tiny amount of doubt in the air. i think the evidence is clear that we cannot hear these frequencies. there is some slightly woo-ish stuff about how they might still interact with us physically and contribute something to the experience of being "in the presence of" the live instrument(s). i suspect its totally bogus, but i also don't think that the science has been done to clearly establish that it is, and that 22kHz is a hard limit for human experience, not just human hearing.

There is a guy by the name of John Huntington who has done some research on this on the lower end of the scale, testing specific theories regarding paranormal experience and infrasonic frequencies. Nothing formal really, just some basic surveys at the end of the experience regarding the use of 19Hz frequencies and how people 'felt' but the end result IIRC was that it made absolutely no difference.

The only real experience I contribute to ultrasonic frequencies making a difference in our hearing and experience of a live concert is really when it comes to intermodulation of those frequencies creating audible frequencies.

Seablade