Poll

What do you hear?

Laurel
65 (53.7%)
Yanny
35 (28.9%)
I can hear both
21 (17.4%)

Total Members Voted: 120

Author Topic: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?  (Read 5263 times)

HPstache

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Saw this pop up on my news feed today... apparently it's driving the internet crazy.  It is an audio illusion of sorts, I only hear "Laurel" and I can't even force myself to hear "Yanny".  My entire office hears "Yanny" and I'm starting to think it's a conspiracy.  What do you all hear?

https://www.cnet.com/news/yanny-or-laurel-the-internet-is-fighting-over-this-mysterious-word/
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 08:55:35 AM by v8rx7guy »

elliha

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny"
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2018, 08:39:29 AM »
Laurel but most of my friends hear Yanny too. I can kind of hear a faint y-sound but Laurel is clear to me.

bacchi

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny"
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2018, 08:45:34 AM »
Ha, I hear "Jerry" with almost a Spanish "J" instead of a hard "J." My hearing has never been 100% though.

fell-like-rain

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny"
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2018, 08:52:25 AM »
This was a funny one- I started out with Yanny, then I tried to focus more on the lower tones, and it switched over to Laurel, and now I can't get back.

DarkandStormy

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny"
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2018, 09:05:30 AM »
This was a funny one- I started out with Yanny, then I tried to focus more on the lower tones, and it switched over to Laurel, and now I can't get back.

Same.  I've also read that the device you play it on (and how much bass is emphasized) can have an impact.

On my phone, I clicked an audio version in article and hear Laurel.  But then I opened the direct Twitter link and heard Yanny.

sparkytheop

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2018, 10:06:55 AM »
I'd love to see the difference between what you hear and age.

As you age, you tend to lose hearing of higher frequencies.  The difference is probably directly tied to the frequencies where hearing loss has occurred.

I have had hearing loss since I was very young though, and a couple years ago had surgery to repair a nearly disintegrated incus (or "anvil"-- the middle ear bone).  Constant ear drum/altitude issues and ear infections crushed and ate away at the bone over time.  My hearing is better now, at almost 40, than it was when I was a kid.  So, I'm not sure if what I hear is normal for my age (I hear "Yanny").  I can hear "Laurel" when the pitch is changed.

HPstache

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2018, 11:54:26 AM »
Ok, so this is so strange.  Just got out of a 2hr meeting and went to listen again.  My headphones were on super quiet at first and I could actually hear "yanny".  As I turned them up slowly, I began to hear "laurel" again more clearly, but I can at least force myself to hear "yanny" now.  I firmly believe that "laurel" is much more distinct and clear but I can finally hear how it can be either.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2018, 01:22:21 PM »
I can only hear "Laurel". I've tried listening to it at a lower volume, as some have suggested, but I can't force myself to hear "Yanny" at all.

HPstache

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2018, 01:41:31 PM »
If you want to hear it both ways, use the tool here and adjust the slider one way or the other:

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

Moonwaves

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2018, 02:14:03 PM »
Saw this earlier and clicked on it and I'm another one who can only hear Yanny, no matter how hard I tried. If I have some time at the weekend, I'll play around with different devices and see what I can hear then.

Dollar Slice

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2018, 05:48:05 PM »
After experimentation and observation, I have a theory. It's about bass/treble frequency response.

If you have good hearing, and listen on decent speakers/headphones, it's Laurel.
If you lost your high register (many people do with age), it's Laurel on any device.
If you have good hearing, but listen on shitty, tinny speakers (no bass), it's Yanny.

I have good hearing and hear it differently on different devices. My buddy who goes to tons of concerts and never wears earplugs can't hear Yanny no matter what (even on the site which lets you pitch shift, which makes me think he has real hearing loss). Another person said they got a group of people to listen on the same device and some people heard one way, some the other. So it has to be partly the device, and partly the ears.

(Yes, I had a slow day at work)

teen persuasion

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny"
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2018, 08:04:41 PM »
Ha, I hear "Jerry" with almost a Spanish "J" instead of a hard "J." My hearing has never been 100% though.

I heard laurel when they played it on tv this morning.  Trying the slider (on my kindle fire), I never get yanny, but do get exactly this sort of accented Jerry for the slider to the far right (last quarter or so only).  I hear laurel for the left 75% of the slider.

elliha

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #12 on: May 17, 2018, 01:16:27 AM »
If you want to hear it both ways, use the tool here and adjust the slider one way or the other:

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

I still don't get a Yanny. It is something with a y-sound but muffled and unrecognizable. I do have bad hearing though so that might play in. Doctors have told me that I might need a hearing aid in my 40s or 50s and I am 36 now so getting close.

Morning Glory

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2018, 06:01:43 AM »
I only hear yanny on the original clip, heard laurel on the one where the guy turned up the bass. Listening on an iPad mini.

former player

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2018, 06:11:13 AM »
Yanny in the car, Laurel on the laptop.

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2018, 07:25:13 AM »
#teamlaurel

DS

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2018, 09:24:28 AM »
Blue and black or white and gold??????????????????

tralfamadorian

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #17 on: May 17, 2018, 01:28:58 PM »
Laurel except when nytimes bar is 30%+ on the right- then I get Neely.

meghan88

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #18 on: May 17, 2018, 02:00:15 PM »
DH heard Laurel and I heard Yanny when they played it on the news.  On the iPad, we both heard Yanny.  On the smartphone, DH heard Yanny and I heard Laurel.  I found it all very creepy at first, and it got even creepier when the smartphone flipped what we'd each heard.

Perhaps there are software bugs in our Matrix, or we are Sims being played with by some malevolent teenaged being from an alternate universe.  Need to read more about Hawking's theory that we are really just a hologram...

wenchsenior

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #19 on: May 17, 2018, 02:22:19 PM »
On that link, I cannot fathom how anyone could hear Laurel. Yanny is crystal clear to my ear.

wenchsenior

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2018, 02:27:10 PM »
If you want to hear it both ways, use the tool here and adjust the slider one way or the other:

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

Ok, but I have to adjust to the very last setting to hear Laurel.  One setting above that I hear Yaurel.  And everything else Yanny.

ETA: reading through possible explanations, it makes sense. I have outstanding high-register hearing, which I know b/c I went for audio testing after an ear infection that left me with what I perceived as minor hearing loss in one ear.  The ear that was 'bad' was still better than 99% of the people they ever test at high frequency hearing.

I can hear those animal-repellent machines that broadcast at very high frequency (supposedly out of human hearing range) clearly as well.  They sound horrible.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2018, 02:31:37 PM by wenchsenior »

Kris

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #21 on: May 17, 2018, 02:39:06 PM »
.

HPstache

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Re: This is driving me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #22 on: May 17, 2018, 11:21:21 PM »
.

Thank you... that just made my night!

Milizard

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #23 on: May 18, 2018, 09:18:18 AM »
Only listened on my phone. Laurel, except when they adjusted it way down. I have really good hearing, too, but it is allergy season,  so who knows. 

Middlesbrough

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #24 on: May 18, 2018, 04:27:44 PM »
You are all wrong, it sounds like jelly.

meghan88

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #25 on: May 18, 2018, 05:17:40 PM »
.

Brilliant!!  Thank you Kris.

intotherealworld

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #26 on: May 18, 2018, 06:22:14 PM »
This was driving me crazy too.

I found that playing around with the frequency you can change which one you hear. But it also depends on context. and how abruptly you change the frequency.

I made a video to try figure it out. Frequency goes up and down smoothly first, then abrupt jumps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ap9gf1YGPk

Did this help anyone hear both?

marty998

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #27 on: May 18, 2018, 07:26:12 PM »
More of a "Yeerney" for me.

TheWifeHalf

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #28 on: May 18, 2018, 07:35:30 PM »
It was Yanny all day, until there was a bit saying it will be on a certain show. They played it, heard Laurel, but when the show was on, heard Yanny.

There was an explanation that this was specifically developed to be heard 2 ways, depending on frequencies or something.

DreamFIRE

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2018, 03:23:48 PM »

I can hear both depending on the device and speakers, even my angle to the speaker made a difference.  If I put my fingers in my ears, I hear laurel.

BlueMR2

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #30 on: May 20, 2018, 02:01:35 PM »
We did the experiment at work.  Overwhelmingly Laurel.  One distinct different we found between Laurel and Yanny hearers was that the Yannys were all concert goers where as the Laurels were not.  Yanny better because used to straining to hear distortions in poor concert setups?  Or Yanny worse because it means hearing damage?  Probably neither, but just interesting.  :-)

golden1

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #31 on: May 20, 2018, 02:49:15 PM »
It depends on the speakers.  I hear laurel on my iPad, but Yanny on my PC.

newgirl

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #32 on: May 20, 2018, 03:26:16 PM »
I was firmly in the "Yanny" camp after dozens of listens, until a few minutes ago I played it for my husband and ONE TIME out of the blue I heard "Laurel" clear as day. I played it again on the same device, same speakers, volume, settings, everything, and went right back to hearing "Yanny". Now I can only hear Yanny again. I am legitimately flipping out, it was so freaky to hear Laurel just the one time.

frugalnacho

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #33 on: May 21, 2018, 09:39:09 AM »
If you want to hear it both ways, use the tool here and adjust the slider one way or the other:

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

I listened to this a few days ago and it's trippy.  I don't hear the change at any specific point, it depends on how my ear is primed.  If I start in the middle I hear Yanny.  If I slide it all the way to the left I hear laurel clear as a day, if I slide it all the way to the right I hear yanny again.  If I go from the left side and slowly move the cursor over I can get way past the middle point while still hearing Laurel repeated over and over, and vice versa from the right side.  At first I thought the website was fucking with me and was inconsistent with playback as some kind of sick joke.  But I recorded it myself, and on my own recordings I can hear it was both laurel and as yanny depending on how I prime my ear. 

It's totally trippy because with my own recording I know I am hearing the exact same audio file, but sometimes it's laurel, and sometimes it's yanny (even when I strain to hear the other name).  Like my brain is hearing the raw data, and then figuring out what I'm really supposed to hear, then that is the only thing I hear. Weird aural illusion. It's like one of those optical illusions where an object appears to be spinning either clockwise or counterclockwise and it's dependent on your perception.  "Laurel is obviously spinning clockwise, how could anyone possibly think otherwise?" *looks back and Yanny is spinning counterclockwise*



Indexer

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #34 on: May 21, 2018, 07:15:11 PM »
What I hear changes while I'm listening to it.

The slider all the way to the left. A very clear Laurel.
Move to the middle:  Yeary.
Move the slider to the right. I hear Yearly. (Yes, I distinctly hear yearly in a very deep voice.)
Move it back to the far left:  Yeary.   

I hear Laurel at first but after moving to the right and then back all I can here is yeary.


partgypsy

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #35 on: May 22, 2018, 09:19:26 AM »
It depends on which computer and speaker I listen on, and which version. Computer at home I can only hear "yanny". Computer at work, and a different sample at home computer, hear "laurel". I can't hear both at same time.

My daughter can hear both, but to her it sounds like "laurel".

partgypsy

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #36 on: May 22, 2018, 09:25:29 AM »
If you want to hear it both ways, use the tool here and adjust the slider one way or the other:

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

Ok, but I have to adjust to the very last setting to hear Laurel.  One setting above that I hear Yaurel.  And everything else Yanny.

ETA: reading through possible explanations, it makes sense. I have outstanding high-register hearing, which I know b/c I went for audio testing after an ear infection that left me with what I perceived as minor hearing loss in one ear.  The ear that was 'bad' was still better than 99% of the people they ever test at high frequency hearing.

I can hear those animal-repellent machines that broadcast at very high frequency (supposedly out of human hearing range) clearly as well.  They sound horrible.

I'm like you. My high frequency hearing is good. One time I woke up in the middle of the night because the high beep of the smoke alarm was going off (low battery) but no one else in the family woke up. In college I was in an room next to the av room, and complained about the annoying hum. No one else knew what I was talking about.


patchyfacialhair

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #37 on: May 22, 2018, 04:30:15 PM »
No matter what I did (cheap speakers, good speakers, cheap headphones, good headphones low volume, high volume), I heard Laurel. Only the Nytimes link allowed me to year Yanny.

DreamFIRE

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #38 on: May 22, 2018, 06:13:05 PM »
There was a point on the spectrum where I could hear whichever one I wanted to, and without changing any settings, start hearing the other.    I can do the same thing with the spinning dancer - get her spinning in either direction.

ditheca

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #39 on: May 23, 2018, 01:23:15 AM »
I can hear both, but it started out as Yanny.

I had to check a video that showed Yanny changing to Laurel and back before I could hear them both at the same time.

Sibley

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #40 on: May 23, 2018, 09:46:43 AM »
The guy who originally recorded it says that he was saying Laurel.
http://time.com/5282651/yanny-laurel-sound-voice/

In other news, how does this matter?

frugalnacho

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #41 on: May 23, 2018, 10:51:24 AM »
It's crazy that there is so much controversy over the original clip, but with all the subsequent news reports, videos, etc of people saying which they hear I haven't seen a single case of anyone misinterpreting subsequent pronunciations, only the original file.  Anytime another person utters Laurel or Yanny everyone unanimously agrees that they are hearing what is being said, it's only the original file in question. 

Shouldn't some of these news clips go like this:

Person 1 says: Controversy over this word, people are in disagreement over whether it's "Laurel" or "Yanny". 

1. Other person hears: Controversy over this word, people are in disagreement over whether it's "Laurel" or "Yanny".
or
2. Other person hears: Controversy over this word, people are in disagreement over whether it's "Laurel" or "Laurel". 
or
3. Other person hears: Controversy over this word, people are in disagreement over whether it's "Yanny" or "Yanny".

But 2 and 3 never come up, everyone hears the subsequent pronunciations correctly.


frugalnacho

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Re: This is drivning me nuts! "Laurel" vs. "Yanny", which do you hear?
« Reply #42 on: May 23, 2018, 10:59:22 AM »
The guy who originally recorded it says that he was saying Laurel.
http://time.com/5282651/yanny-laurel-sound-voice/

In other news, how does this matter?

Because it's creating a lot of dissonance in peoples brains.  Using that sliding tool from the nyt I am able to hear both Laurel and Yanny very clearly.  Independently recording and playing back the file I can hear either Laurel or Yanny (depending on what I just previously listened to) for the exact same file! I know it's the same file being played back, how does it sound so completely different to me at different times?  It's not like it's just a small change in tone or something, it's a completely different word.  Can I trust anything I hear? Or any of my senses? It's making me question the very reality of existence.