Yanny or Laurel? That's the question sparked by an infuriating piece of audio that has split people into two camps.
In a 2018 version of ‘The Dress’ debate, people are arguing over whether a computer-generated voice is saying ‘Laurel’ or ‘Yanny’. The short recording first surfaced on Reddit this week and has subsequently gone viral on Twitter, provoking an intense debate.
Just like ‘The Dress’ fiasco, people are utterly convinced of their point of view and can’t understand why anyone could possible disagree.
Many have turned to science in their quest for an explanation. Dylan Bennett was one of many who said it was all down to frequency and what people’s ears can pick up. Lower frequencies make it more likely that you’ll hear “Laurel” while at higher ones you’re more likely to hear “Yanny”.
Another theory, put forward by Professor David Alais from The University of Sydney’s school of psychology, claimed that the auditory illusion is an example of “perceptually ambiguous stimulus,” in which essentially the brain can’t decide on exactly what it is seeing - or in this case hearing.
And so the debate rages on.
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