YANNY OR LAUREL?

The internet erupted in disagreement over a short audio clip in which the word
being said depends on the listener. Yes, some hear “Laurel”. Others hear “Yanny”.
A high school student recorded the word “Laurel” from his computer speakers and
posted it on Reddit. This clip has become the subject of debate from then. The
question here is why people hear different things in that viral clip?

The reasons are:

 Frequency range-Those whose brains emphasize higher frequency sounds

hear “Yanny” while those that perceive lower frequency better believe it is
“Laurel”.
 Aged people hear “Laurel” whereas young people hear “Yanny”.
 The ambiguous recording.

The spectrograms below show that the word “laurel” is strongest in lower
frequencies, while a simulated version of the word “yanny” is stronger in
higher frequencies. The audio clip shows a mixture of both.

 Your expectations- It's also worth noting that people are expecting to hear
either "yanny" or "laurel," If the same audio clip given with no options to
choose from, then we may hear more than 50 different words.
‘Yanny or Laurel’ is similar to “The Dress” debate which took place in 2015. Here,
viewers disagreed over whether the dress was coloured black and blue, or white
and gold.

This is actually because of our brain’s interpretation. Normally, our brains are very
good at correcting for light. Sometimes, our brain may provide us with
misinterpretations. Déjà vu, jamais vu and even physical pain are often
misinterpretations.

For example, if you look at a gray building during a sunset, it will be bathed in a
much redder light than it is during midday. But our brains are very good at
correcting for the effects of that light and seeing the building as the exact same
color at all times - gray.
Now to the solution of the dress debate, when our brain assumes the picture as
dimly lit, we see a gold and white dress. If it assumes as a brightly lit picture, then
we see a black and blue dress.

There are similar popular illusions:

Rubin’s vase, Duck or Rabbit, Necker cube, Schroeder’s stairs, Kanizsa triangle
and so on. Similarly, Yanny or Laurel is not the only auditory illusion. There are
much more in the club. Like Risset’s rhythmic effect, Glissando, Octave
illusion,etc.

We may think that people will debate just about anything on the internet. The
“Yanny” versus “Laurel” and dress debates are silly. But their lessons run deep:
Our reality is an interpretation.

This isn’t to say you can never trust reality. Often, we’re correct and we agree on
it. But if someone comes to a different perception of reality, know that their brain
may be processing it just a little bit differently.