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There's an audio equivalent of the 'white and gold/blue and black' dress debate and it is even more frustrating

Do you hear ‘Yanny’ or ‘Laurel’?

REMEMBER WAY BACK in 2016 when everyone on the internet collectively lost their shit while arguing over the colour of this dress?

The_Dress_(viral_phenomenon) Wikipedia Wikipedia

A year later, it was followed by this photograph of grey and teal shorts and sliders, which people were also convinced were pink and white.

original BiNorth / Facebook BiNorth / Facebook / Facebook

And now, in 2018, there’s an audio clip that is confusing people just as much as the dress did.

Some people are hearing the name ‘Laurel’, while others are hearing ‘Yanny’. Personally, I had a feeling I’d hear ‘Laurel’ for some reason, but when I clicked play I actually heard ‘Yanny’ twice, and ‘Laurel’ every other time. No matter how many times I listen to it now, I can’t hear ‘Yanny’ anymore. My brain will only process it as ‘Laurel’ now.

Here’s the audio:

If the video won’t play, click here.

It has resulted in a lot of confusion on Twitter.

PastedImage-65030 Cloe Feldman / Twitter Cloe Feldman / Twitter / Twitter

Someone decided to speed it up and slow it down, making it a lot easier to hear both Laurel and Yanny.

Some people only hear Yanny at the slow part, and Laurel at the fast part, and others are hearing it vice versa. But look. The words are both there, somehow.

If the video won’t play, click here.

c3f2437ebd6b25d154a34fb62618a220 Alex Stockwell / Twitter Alex Stockwell / Twitter / Twitter

It wasn’t long until scientists explained why some of us can’t hear ‘Yanny’.

The Verge spoke to Maastricht University’s assistant professor of audition and cognitive neuroscience Lars Riecke. Riecke explained that it’s all down to the frequency of the audio.

Older adults tend to start losing their hearing at the higher frequency ranges, which could explain why Riecke could only hear Laurel, but his eight-year-old daughter could hear Yanny.

Maybe I just aged a little bit after I heard Yanny the first two times.

What do you hear?


Poll Results:

Yanny (466)
Laurel (382)
I forgot to bring earphones on the bus (47)

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