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Yanny vs Laurel - the debate

holbritter

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Explanations for the hearing one or the other are from bad quality speakers to it's all in your head.

I listened with hubby, in the same room: he clearly heard Laurel, I clearly heard Yanny. We both could not understand how in hell either of us could not hear the same thing. If I wasn't a bit incredulous that he couldn't even begin to hear what I was, it could have led to an argument...haha.

What do you think the explanation is?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-laurel-audio-hearing-science-behind-why/
 
the closest approximation to what i heard was "yeh-wee" so I dunno lol
 
the closest approximation to what i heard was "yeh-wee" so I dunno lol


lol..it originally sounded the same to me.

At least you heard the 'ee' sound at the end. I heard that, but others hear the 'uhl' for Laurel. To me they are as different as night and day, yet I can't hear it!
 
lol..it originally sounded the same to me.

At least you heard the 'ee' sound at the end. I heard that, but others hear the 'uhl' for Laurel. To me they are as different as night and day, yet I can't hear it!
It clearly is saying 'Yanny".

What the **** are the people smoking?
 
Explanations for the hearing one or the other are from bad quality speakers to it's all in your head.

I listened with hubby, in the same room: he clearly heard Laurel, I clearly heard Yanny. We both could not understand how in hell either of us could not hear the same thing. If I wasn't a bit incredulous that he couldn't even begin to hear what I was, it could have led to an argument...haha.

What do you think the explanation is?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-laurel-audio-hearing-science-behind-why/

It's a frequency thing. If you lower the pitch of the recording, you hear "yanny." I suspect more older people* hear "laurel" because you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as you age. If you can hear higher frequencies, you're more likely to hear "yanny."







*By this I mean 30s and up.
 
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They just did this on CNN - I clearly heard Laurel each and every time and cannot even fathom how anyone could hear anything else.
 
They just did this on CNN - I clearly heard Laurel each and every time and cannot even fathom how anyone could hear anything else.

I know! This is so interesting to me. I cannot fathom anyone hearing Laurel! I heard it again on the way to work this morning, and I definitely hear Yannee. It must, like Harshaw said, have something to do with the frequencies people hear.
 
It clearly is saying 'Yanny".

What the **** are the people smoking?

Haha! It's hard to think someone can possibly hear something else when you clearly hear what you're hearing!
 
It's a frequency thing. If you lower the pitch of the recording, you hear "yanny." I suspect more older people* hear "laurel" because you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as you age. If you can hear higher frequencies, you're more likely to hear "yanny."







*By this I mean 30s and up.

I'm 68, and I heard Ricardo.
 
Explanations for the hearing one or the other are from bad quality speakers to it's all in your head.

I listened with hubby, in the same room: he clearly heard Laurel, I clearly heard Yanny. We both could not understand how in hell either of us could not hear the same thing. If I wasn't a bit incredulous that he couldn't even begin to hear what I was, it could have led to an argument...haha.

What do you think the explanation is?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-laurel-audio-hearing-science-behind-why/

How anybody can get Laurel out of that is beyond me...unless they're just messing with you.
 
How anybody can get Laurel out of that is beyond me...unless they're just messing with you.

I thought so at first, but that's what he truly heard. On the radio station, they had 5 people in there when they played it....3 people heard Laurel and the other 2 heard Yanny. Big argument ensued on who was right. :)
 
I clearly hear Yanny . Have tried to hear Laurel, and cannot.
 
I'm 68, and I heard Ricardo.

My mother would have heard "Cordoba"...but then again even at age 80 she said Ricardo Montalban could park his shoes under her bed anytime LOL.

AlbinaHaas1975Cordoba.jpg

 
Explanations for the hearing one or the other are from bad quality speakers to it's all in your head.

I listened with hubby, in the same room: he clearly heard Laurel, I clearly heard Yanny. We both could not understand how in hell either of us could not hear the same thing. If I wasn't a bit incredulous that he couldn't even begin to hear what I was, it could have led to an argument...haha.

What do you think the explanation is?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-laurel-audio-hearing-science-behind-why/

I thought my wife and two teenaged daughters were fu****g with me. I didn't even believe them for the longest time. Which, of course, encouraged them to to prove to me that yanny was a thing. I still can't hear it...
 
How anybody can get Laurel out of that is beyond me...unless they're just messing with you.

The audio is actually two audio tracks laid over top of one another, one high frequency "Yanny" and then a low frequency "Laurel". All things being equal, if the audio is played through a high quality sound source that accurately projects in the frequencies encoded then younger people, whose ears are more sensitive to high frequency, will hear "Yanny" or "Yammy", while older people, who have lost their sensitivity to high frequency, will not hear "Yanny" or "Yammy" at all, and will instead hear the lower frequency "Laurel" which is encoded to be quieter than the shrill, tinny "Yammy".

That being said, a lot of it ACTUALLY has to do with the device you are playing the sound on as most speakers can't play those higher frequencies, but the playback device sends the signal regardless so the playback device simply dumps that code into the highest frequency that it can manage, which is often in a frequency that most people can hear. So if you listen on a tablet or phone then the chances are that the "Yanny" was down-scaled into a frequency that you can hear.

If you STILL don't hear "Yanny" on any device then you have probably been to too many rock concerts.

Also...

32746482_10156419503119228_9149762434909601792_n.jpg

Based on that picture... totally team Laurel!
 
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Explanations for the hearing one or the other are from bad quality speakers to it's all in your head.

I listened with hubby, in the same room: he clearly heard Laurel, I clearly heard Yanny. We both could not understand how in hell either of us could not hear the same thing. If I wasn't a bit incredulous that he couldn't even begin to hear what I was, it could have led to an argument...haha.

What do you think the explanation is?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-laurel-audio-hearing-science-behind-why/

My wife got Laurel. I got gibberish. Go figure.

If I was really interested, I'd play it on my system that's set up for high quality audio rather than a phone. I guess I'm not that interested.;)
 
I heard "Hardy".. ;)

The frequency argument doesn't hold water. If it did it would occur way more than it does. Although, if you can keep a secret I always tell my wife when she talks that sometimes I can't hear her over the white noise because of the frequency in which she speaks.. ;)

Worked so far.. ;)


Tim-
 
So the first time I listened without the headphones (Laurel), the second time with (Yanni).
 
Heard Yanny last night on my wife's phone speaker. Heard Laurel today on my headphones.
 
How anybody can get Laurel out of that is beyond me...unless they're just messing with you.

I hear Laural. Not pulling your leg at all. Nothing about that sounds like Yanni to me.
 
Funny side effect...

Yanny or Laurel? Greek composer Yanni sees spike in popularity after viral audio debate

Greek composer Yanni's popularity has surged following the "Yanny or Laurel" debate internet phenomenon.

Yanni, real name Yiannis Chryssomallis, is a Greek composer, keyboardist, pianist and music producer.

Google trends noted that the musician received a spike in searches as the debate over whether people heard Yanny or Laurel in the audio clip raged over the internet.​
 
I'm 68, and I heard Ricardo.

If they didn't tell me that it was either of those two I would've thought it said, "Bitch pass the butter".
 
It's a frequency thing. If you lower the pitch of the recording, you hear "yanny." I suspect more older people* hear "laurel" because you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as you age. If you can hear higher frequencies, you're more likely to hear "yanny."



*By this I mean 30s and up.

Good post, I think you nailed it.
 
Funny side effect...

Yanny or Laurel? Greek composer Yanni sees spike in popularity after viral audio debate

Greek composer Yanni's popularity has surged following the "Yanny or Laurel" debate internet phenomenon.

Yanni, real name Yiannis Chryssomallis, is a Greek composer, keyboardist, pianist and music producer.

Google trends noted that the musician received a spike in searches as the debate over whether people heard Yanny or Laurel in the audio clip raged over the internet.​

Maybe it’s Yanni saying ‘Laurel’?

That way, you can hear both.
 
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