Laurel, Yanny\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
Yanny, Laurel\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
With visions of sugar-plums or blue and black or white and gold dresses still dancing in our heads, we find ourselves debating yet another divisive phenomenon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Reddit user recently posted a short audio clip, asking fellow users the simple question: \u201cwhat do you hear?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Hundreds of thousands voiced an opinion \u2014 even Ellen DeGeneres and JJ Watt. Fascinatingly, DeGeneres and Watt \u2014 two upstanding, seemingly goodhearted people \u2014 heard two totally, different things.<\/p>\n One heard \u201cLaurel.\u201d The other heard \u201cYanny\u201d \u2014 two completely different words \u2014 words so different in meaning and sound that there is no possible way<\/i> both people could be right.<\/p>\n And since each actually heard it, it takes minimal effort for each to conclude that they alone are right.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n In the days that followed, we have learned that technically, if you heard \u201cLaurel,\u201d you heard correctly; it was the vocabulary word of a Georgia high school student. But the explanation shouldn\u2019t blind us to the wisdom embedded in the opportunity before us\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean that good people \u2014 even intelligent people, logical people, people I love \u2014 might be convinced they heard<\/i> the only right thing?<\/i><\/b> \u2026 that they may conclude, even vehemently so \u2014 that <\/i>all others are wrong?<\/i><\/b> \u2026 and then maybe, they might start treating that other as lesser? \u2026 even justify insults or looking down on them?\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n There were multiple explanations for this recent, aptly-termed, \u201cauditory illusion.\u201d Wired Magazine<\/i> shared as follows:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 Thankfully, scientists have an explanation for why people hear different things when they listen to the recording. A number of academics chimed in to explain the phenomenon on Twitter. They said that the clip is an \u2018ambiguous figure,\u2019 or as one auditory neuroscientist explained it to The Verge1, the audio version of \u2018Rubin’s Vase,\u2019 an optical illusion where two people’s profiles can also be seen as a flower vase. In other words, it’s an optical illusion, except for your ears. <\/i>There’s not really a correct answer either way.<\/i><\/b> <\/i>The reason that the recording is so contested is likely because it’s noisy,<\/i><\/b> meaning there are lots of different frequencies captured. What you hear depends on which frequencies your brain emphasizes.<\/i><\/p>\n The higher frequency sounds in the recording make people hear \u2018Yanny,\u2019 whereas the lower frequencies cause others to swear they hear \u2018Laurel.\u2019 <\/i>What you hear depends on what sounds your brain is paying attention to, your past experiences, and what you’re expecting to hear. <\/i><\/b>What word you experience might also have to do with your age. Older adults often start losing their hearing within the higher-frequency range, meaning it’s possible that more young people hear \u2018Yanny.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n There are also other, technical explanations. For example, what you hear might have to do with your speakers, your headphones, or the acoustics in the room. \u2018The main reason (I suspect) people hear this differently is because different headphones and speakers filter the frequencies of the sound in different ways,\u2019 tweeted Dana Boebinger, a PhD student at Harvard and MIT studying auditory perception, in a thread breaking down the illusion. There’s also what platform you heard it on first\u2014the differences in the audio could have something do with how Twitter or Instagram compresses video files\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Let\u2019s get this straight\u2026<\/p>\n There’s not really a correct answer either way\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n The reason that the recording is so contested is likely because it’s noisy\u2026 (\u2026 what other sounds and voices are we listening to?)\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n What you hear depends on what sounds your brain is paying attention to, your past experiences, and what you’re expecting to hear\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n So what we are paying attention to affects what we actually hear.<\/p>\n Sounds like maybe, just maybe, we could apply this wisdom even further\u2026<\/p>\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Laurel, Yanny\u2026 Yanny, Laurel\u2026 With visions of sugar-plums or blue and black or white and gold dresses still dancing in our heads, we find ourselves debating yet another divisive phenomenon.\u00a0 A Reddit user recently posted a short audio clip, asking fellow users the simple question: \u201cwhat do you hear?\u201d Hundreds of thousands voiced an opinion … <\/p>\n