Some of it is just age and physiology. I don't know how old you are but
if you are younger than I, you likely hear better at higher frequencies.
People generally hear worse and worse at the higher ranges. 20Khz is the
typical upper limit of what most of us can hear.
The second part has to do with the sampling. The higher the rate of
sampling, the more accurate the sound recording. That does not make it
any clearer. In practice the kinds of compression and the noise inherent
in the system and the ambient noise in the environment are larger
determinants of how clear the sound appears to be.
Some microphones can "hear" below 20Khz. For some interesting info and
equipment, Google elephant recording.
Most of the better technology described here records information we
can't hear at a level of discrimination we cannot discern. This extra
capacity is most useful when we are at the limits of what can be
recorded or the limits of what needs to be recorded. When sounds are
very faint, for example, or high, or low, or will require enormous
processing for some reason in an audio workstation.
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