Another year, another controversial question DIVIDING THE INTERNET (caps lock emphasis, me). In the audio clip below, people are asked whether they hear ‘Yanny’ or ‘Laurel’.

I won’t spoil it, but.. ANYONE THAT SAYS THEY HEAR ‘YANNY’ IS A BIG STINKIN’ LIAR

 

 

What’s going on here? According to The Verge:

The secret is frequency. The acoustic information that makes us hear Yanny is higher frequency than the acoustic information that makes us hear Laurel. Some of the variation may be due to the audio system playing the sound.. But some of it is also the mechanics of your ears, and what you’re expecting to hear. Older adults tend to start losing their hearing at the higher frequency ranges.. It’s a phenomenon you can mimic on a computer.. if you remove all the low frequencies, you hear Yanny. If you remove the high frequencies, you hear Laurel

 

Additionally, the audio is also ‘noisy’ which causes your perception to be slightly ambiguous and your brain fills in what it thinks it should be. Have another listen sped up and slowed down, see if it changes anything.

 

 

Okay fine, I take it back. It sounds different at different speeds/frequencies. People hear differently. I was foolish. I take it all back. Sorry you can’t have your two minutes back but at least you can be topical at the water cooler today!