Yanny or Laurel?

[BenitoChavez]

The internet erupted in disagreement on Tuesday over an audio clip in which the name being said depends on the listener. Some hear “Laurel.” Others hear “Yanny.”

We built a tool to gradually accentuate different frequencies in the original audio clip. Which word or name do you hear, and how far do you have to move the slider to hear the other? (The slider’s center point represents the original recording.)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/16/upshot/audio-clip-yanny-laurel-debate.html

Apparently this is a thing akin to 0.999...=1 and the blue-black/white-gold dress. Depending on your hearing, what speakers you're using, etc. it sounds different to different people.

Using the slider on the NY Times website I hear Yanny at first and if I slowly move it to towards Laurel, I never actually hear Laurel, just a garbled sounding Yanny. However, if instead of moving it slowly, I jump all the way towards Laurel I can hear Laurel just fine. Then moving the slider slowly back toward Yanny I hear Laurel all the way. Very strange.

So what do you hear?

 

[Synobun]

I hear "yammy" regardless of setting.

Edit: There's another one of these.

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/997126990426722305

I hear "brain needle".

 

[Gori the Grey]

Yanny.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

That was the first interesting thing I've seen come out of this bit of internet stupidity. By moving the slider slowly I also managed to hear "yanny" where I had previously heard "laurel" when I jumped the slider over.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I heard "Laurel" the first time and "Yanni" the second time.

 

[red_elk]

At first, only "yanny".
After playing with the slider a bit, at some position hear both words simultaneously, but only "laurel" in the middle.

 

[Disgustipated]

The original article I clicked on it always sounded like Yanny. That was the article on the Fox News website. As for the NY Times slider the middle setting sounded like Yanny at first. But after going all the way left and hearing him (her?) speak Laurel about 5 times then go back one notch at a time to the middle it does sound more like Laurel where before it sounded like Yanny. The right settings still sound like Yanny though.

 

[Kyriakos]

Isn't there a known phenomenon in acoustic-related physics, where two sounds played together do create an amalgam which can - depending on various alterable dynamics - revert to either of the sounds? Iirc in greek it is called 'diakrotema'.
Though at least from the site it would seem that to a degree it involves expectation (ie mind setting) as well, when the difference in the scale setting isn't large.

 

[Bootstoots]

Laurel, very clearly. I can hear Yanny when the slider is most of the way to the right, and by playing with it, I can hear either one depending on how close to the speaker I am. I'm trying to learn to switch which one I hear from one to the other at will.

 

[warpus]

Who the hell designed our ears and/or brains, this is obviously a bug

 

[Paul in Saudi]

"Laurel," no matter the settings. Was this a deliberate trick, or an honest phenomena?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

"Laurel," no matter the settings. Was this a deliberate trick, or an honest phenomena?

It's an honest phenomena. The various sounds that make up the two different words share a lot of harmonics. Since those harmonics are the same the difference between hearing one word or the other is dependent on pretty narrow pieces of the spectrum, and the variations in harmonics that our minds would usually use for additional levels of distinction aren't available because of the similarities in the harmonics. With nothing else to go on differences in hearing profiles can make a big difference. Your ears are apparently more sensitive to the few distinct tones of an L than of a Y...add in the common harmonics and you hear an L, where I hear a Y because mine are more sensitive to those tones.

This would never be noticed if there were any context, because your mind would use that to feed back into what you hear.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

If you cannot hear Yanny at all with Laurel turned down, you have sufferred hearing loss of higher pitches.

Here’s a video that played a few different versions:

 

[MagisterCultuum]

In the audio from this thread I definitely hear "yammy," but I first came across this a few hours ago and could not imagine it being anything other than Laurel from that source.

Edit: After hearing in that YouTube clip that it could depend on the volume settings, I increased the volume and it clearly changed to Laurel again. With my volume set above 15 it was always laurel and with it below 15 it was initially Yanni, but after listening to it more loudly a few times I found it became Laurel at any volume.

Edit:2 I just discovered those sliders. At first I heard Yanni whenever the slider was even half a notch to the right, but after turning it to the left side and hearing Laurel again I had to go to the last notch at the right to hear Yanni again. Between the two there was a small zone where it clearly said "Larry."

 

[Evie]

I definitely hear Yanny unless I swing quickly between a high pitch and a low one - then the contrast will let me hear Laurel. But otherwise, Yanny all the way.

Which, according to JK Rowling and Pottermore, makes me a Parselmouth.

 

[Kyriakos]

Yanni>Laurel

 

[red_elk]

Funny, now with slider in the middle, I can clearly hear two voices saying two words simultaneously, "Yanny" with higher pitch, "Laurel" with lower one.

 

[Camikaze]

I am so Laurel I'm genuinely convinced this whole thing is actually a measure of how many people are willing to lie for the sake of maintaining a conspiracy.

 

[El_Machinae]

Kinda Awesome. I need to be near the end to 'switch', but once I switch, I can ride that new interpretation until I'm about 75% of the way to the 'other' side. Reminds me of the spinning figure skater, where eventually I could get it to switch.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Using the NY Times slider in the first post, I hear Laurel as clear as a bell with the slider in the middle, until I move it about 3 ticks to the right, and then it morphs into Yanni. However, as I slide it back, it remains Yanni for another tick. So there's a space there where it overlaps, and my brain clings to whichever one I'm coming from for a moment before switching over.