Sound Wave
Light, Sound and Waves

Teaching stories about frequency

Teaching Guidance for 11-14 Supporting Physics Teaching

Two stories, in different styles

Teacher Tip: It is perhaps one of the the injustices of life that by the time you can afford the ultimate hi-fi music system you are unlikely to be able to hear the benefits! That's because one of the features that you pay for is the facility to reproduce a wide range of sounds, from very low to very high pitched, and our ability to detect such a range decays with age.

Teacher Tip: I knew an old man who was losing his ability to hear higher-pitched sounds. He could hear my voice fine, but he had trouble hearing his wife, because her voice was of a higher pitch. She often became angry with him because she thought he was just ignoring her… especially when she was asking him to do the washing up. In truth he never seemed to miss being called for a meal. She called it selective hearing.

IOP AWARDS 2025

Teachers of Physics Awards

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