REMEMBER WAY BACK in 2016 when everyone on the internet collectively lost their shit while arguing over the colour of this dress?
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.
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:
Cloe Feldman / Twitter
Cloe Feldman / Twitter / Twitter
If the video won’t play, click here.
It has resulted in a lot of confusion on 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.
milinda / Twitter
milinda / Twitter / Twitter
If the video won’t play, click here.
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.
