Not to be left out of the mem fun, the New York Times made a tool that lets you hear Yanny or Laurel. Just slide to the right to hear “Yanny,” and to the left for “Laurel.” It’s interesting to hear how the sound changes as you cut out the higher or lower frequencies. The “Yanny” in the NYT tool sounds more like “Hugh-We” to me. Regardless, it sounds less and less like “Laurel” as you slide farther to the right.
Check It Out: Yanny or Laurel? How About Either with this Online Tool
I hear electronic noise. They pose the question do you hear Yanny or Laurel? So I think it is a mind trick question to listen for one of those when really there isn’t any voices at all. Again when I listened to it alls I heard was electronic noise, no voices at all.
I actually played with this using different acoustic setups. On my MBP with equaliser set for classical music, which extends the range into higher frequency, I heard ‘Yanny’. On my Bose earphones I could hear ‘Laurel’.
On the online slider, I started it with Laurel on the left, and could indeed clearly hear Laurel on my MBP, but once attuned to the sound, was able to hear Laurel all the way to the far end where I should have heard ‘Yanny’. Interestingly, once I could hear how the sound changed with the pitch, I could hear either name at that far end.
We both see and hear (and smell and taste and touch) with our brains, which can both fall susceptible to or over-ride interfering media as needed.
Science and the human body; fascinating stuff.
I’ve had fun with this. When people ask me if I hear Laurel or Yanny, I listen carefully and then with a straight face say I hear Pythagoras. The look of confusion is priceless.