I wanted to hear ‘laurel’‚ but alas‚ I'm a ‘yanny’ man

18 May 2018 - 08:00 By tom eaton
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Do you hear Yanny or Laurel?
Do you hear Yanny or Laurel?
Image: SUPPLIED

So which was it? Did you hear “yanny” or “laurel”?

Just when we thought it was safe to trust our senses‚ the Internet is back with a new sensory oddity to prove that everything is smoke and gossamer.

I like to think of myself as a fairly open-minded guy. In 2015‚ I saw a gold dress AND a blue dress. I like cats and dogs‚ even though dogs are‚ obviously‚ superior in every single way to the parasite-spewing‚ fauna-obliterating fur-robots you refer to as “cats”.

Which is why I tried to hear “laurel”. Millions of people had heard “laurel”‚ I told myself‚ so it really was in there‚ somewhere‚ hidden behind the sounds that so clearly and so loudly said “yanny”. Alas‚ I got nothing. I’m a “yanny” man‚ through and through.

According to the 15-second animated explanation I saw‚ which was based on a vlogger talking to a blogger who’d talked to a journalist who’d talked to a scientist‚ it’s all about frequency. Somewhere between bat sonar and elephant rumbles lies the truth‚ and whether it’s “yanny” or “laurel” depends entirely on how your ears and brain talk to each other.

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