Laurel or Yanny clip is driving the internet crazy and triggering ear-splitting arguments – so what do you hear?
REMEMBER the blue/gold dress debate which divided the world? There’s a new split taking over the internet and this time it is an audio illusion clip.
A sound bite appeared on Reddit and is causing uproar as to whether the computer-generated voice is saying “Yanny” or “Laurel” – so what do you think?
“Most sounds – including L and Y, which are among the ones at issue here – are made up of several frequencies at once ... frequencies of the Y might have been made artificially higher, and the frequencies that make the L sound might have been dropped.”
For those in doubt of the answer as to whether the clip says Yanny or Laurel, University of Arizona’s Brad Story said the original recording was actually Laurel.
"This happens because the brain can’t decide on a definitive interpretation.
“If there is little ambiguity, the brain locks on to a single perceptual interpretation.
"Here, the Yanny/Laurel sound is meant to be ambiguous because each sound has a similar timing and energy content – so in principle it’s confusable.
“All of this goes to highlight just how much the brain is an active interpreter of sensory input, and thus that the external world is less objective than we like to believe.”
So what did YOU hear?
Optical illusions have been around for years, constantly driving people insane.
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