Five Great Auditory Illusions - No Stereo Needed

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The discussion centers around various auditory illusions featured in a New Scientist article, with participants sharing their experiences and interpretations of the sounds. The barber shop illusion is highlighted as a favorite, with users expressing amazement at the phantom word effect, where they hear different phrases in each ear, such as "help me" and "bueno." There is curiosity about how handedness might influence auditory perception, with some users noting they only hear sounds from one ear. Participants also discuss the effectiveness of using headphones versus external speakers, with mixed results reported regarding the clarity of sound directionality. Some express concerns about their hearing, questioning if their ears are "mis-wired" due to inconsistent experiences with the illusions. Overall, the conversation reflects a fascination with auditory perception and the peculiarities of sound illusions.
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They're ok. The best one is the barber one. The others I'm too sick to understand what is supposed to happen.
 
hahah that's pretty good. That barber shop is good.
 
that phantom word one is crazy trippy. I keep hearing either "help me help me help me" on the right side and "bueno bueno bueno bueno" (spanish for good or OK) on the left, or "lapiz lapiz lapiz" on the right side (spanish for pencil) and "no way no way no way no way" on the left.

it also turned into "yummy yummy yummy" and "mira mira mira" (spanish for look) on the right at one point.

ha! crazy. thanks for the link, Wolfram, I love weird stuff like that.
 
Funny you should mention that, moe, because I also heard "bueno" on one side an "no way" on the other.
 
the plot thickens...

are you left handed? I wonder if handedness affects what you hear in any way.
 
I only heard something from one ear in those. "No no no no no" repeated for a while, then it switched to "No way no way no way..."

I couldn't figure out at all what that scale one was supposed to do...it just seemed to be a weird little tune. Again, I heard the same with both ears, so not sure what it's trying to explain about hearing something different. I even turned around to make sure it wasn't just that I have one ear better than the other in case I was supposed to hear something different from the other speaker, but then it just switched which ear the sound seemed louder from, but not anything about what I was hearing, so I don't think it was my ears.
 
The scale would go up and down, but actually only one side always goes down, and the other goes up. Use headphones, but not ipod phones. The barber one sounded really, really good.
 
I can almost feel the buzzer.
 
  • #10
moe darklight said:
the plot thickens...

are you left handed? I wonder if handedness affects what you hear in any way.

Somewhat. I write with my left hand, but use right-handed scissors, eat with left hand, throw with right hand.
 
  • #11
Cyrus said:
The scale would go up and down, but actually only one side always goes down, and the other goes up. Use headphones, but not ipod phones. The barber one sounded really, really good.

It said to use external speakers, and I did, but I didn't hear it switching sides like that at all. Both ears still heard it clearly going up and down, though it always seemed a bit louder from the left speaker (regardless if I was facing it or turned away, in which case my right ear heard it louder). I don't think I have any other head phones around anymore. They seem to have walked away on me.

Does this mean my ears are mis-wired? :cry:
 
  • #12
Moonbear said:
It said to use external speakers, and I did, but I didn't hear it switching sides like that at all. Both ears still heard it clearly going up and down, though it always seemed a bit louder from the left speaker (regardless if I was facing it or turned away, in which case my right ear heard it louder). I don't think I have any other head phones around anymore. They seem to have walked away on me.

Does this mean my ears are mis-wired? :cry:

Seems so MoonB, but with a few electronic gizmo's we can fix you up.

Now where did i put my bolster chisel.
 
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  • #13
On that phantom voices one it just sounds like the left side is saying "na want to wanna want to wanna" and the right is saying "no whear no whear no whear no whear"

The note melody thing? Sounds so pretty to me at 25%, just as much as at 100%
 
  • #14
Moonbear said:
Does this mean my ears are mis-wired? :cry:

Of course, why should your ears be different than the rest of your brain?
 
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