Re: [AUDITORY] Natural experiment example needed

[Douglas Scott <jdmusictuition@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David

I forgot to add a suggestion for a natural experiment, the problem would be data, but I wonder how reliable music sales are as a metric for this sort of thing. Maybe there was some signal in the form of a shift in genres as tastes?

Incidentally, the uncertainty in water vapour feedback is one of the really big issues in that field. The absolute size of the effect of the water cycle feedback is enormous (the largest in the system by far), but even the sign of the net effect isn't known with any real confidence.

Doug

On Sat, 5 Apr 2025 at 00:35, Huron, David <000003d54289e601-dmarc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In teaching research methods to music-psychology students, for years I have illustrated a "natural experiment" by discussing how shutting down air traffic in the aftermath of 9/11 allowed climate scientists to determine the effect of aircraft vapor trails on earth's overall temperature. (Do vapor trails cool the earth by blocking sunlight, or is the net effect to warm the earth by blocking reflected surface heat from radiating into space?)

I'd like to have an updated example, preferably something we learned about music or hearing arising from Covid isolation -- something students could better relate to.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

David Huron