The Yanny vs. Laurel Debate, Explained
The audio debate that's dividing the nation
Move over hot dogs and the blue/black dress (or is it white and gold?). The next great debate of our time is here: yanny vs. laurel.
The internet is divided once again, and it seems to be even worse than “The Dress” saga. A robotic audio clip can be heard as either “yanny” or “laurel” and no one seems to be able to figure out which one is right.
The answer, if people are willing to believe there even is one, is much more complicated than the result of the dress debate (which turned out to be blue and black).
According to Sarah Chodosh of Popular Science magazine, the sound waves include “l” and “r” sounds, leading some scientists to believe that the original recording is saying “Laurel”. But don’t worry, Yanny-ites, the changing of vocal tracts create “natural vibrational frequencies” allowing people to analyze the recording in different ways.
The generally accepted reason for the differentiating interpretations is the pitch in which the recording is played. When the pitch is low, people will tend to hear “Laurel”. Make the pitch higher, and more people will hear “Yanny”.
So which one do you hear?
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