Hear Yanny or Laurel Debate: What Do You Hear?

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The discussion revolves around the auditory phenomenon of hearing "Yanny" versus "Laurel," likening it to the viral "blue or gold dress" debate. Participants share their experiences with the audio clip, noting that slight adjustments to the slider can drastically change what they hear. Many report hearing "Laurel" clearly in the middle position, while "Yanny" emerges as they slide to the right. Some individuals mention being able to selectively hear either word without adjusting the slider, similar to optical illusions. The conversation also touches on another auditory illusion where listeners can hear "Brainstorm" or "Green Needle" based on their mental focus, further emphasizing the subjective nature of auditory perception and reality questioning.
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Now that this meme has seen such a tremendous spread, its discoverer can finally rest on their Yannys.
 
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I have no idea how someone can year "yanny." I got "laurel" all the time.
 
I've been seeing this Laurel vs. Yanny stuff for the last day or so, but not knowing what it was about. After listening to the original audio (I hear Laurel) found another pair of clips which might point toward an explanation. Don't go into the spoiler until having listened to the original.

Pitch-varied version #1.
In this clip, when pitch is lowered I no longer hear 'Laurel', but rather 'Jerry'.

Version #2 (now I hear 'Yanny') offers a reasonable explanation behind the phenomena.

It has me wondering whether individual variations in pitch recognition doesn't also play a role. My perception of relative pitch is reasonably acute (2 to 3 cents), but have lousy absolute pitch, while some people are nearly tone deaf and a difference of 50 cents doesn't phase them.
 
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It's interesting...I now know the cause.
 
I don't see how anyone can possibly confuse Yanni and Laurel:



 
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Greg Bernhardt said:
At what point do you hear Yanny vs Laurel?
I have to go to the penultimate tick to hear something else than Laurel, and it then sounds more like "yally" than "Yanny."
 
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For me the critical position is half a click left of centre. What's surprising is how precise the critical position is. There is only a narrow band where I hear both, as if two people are speaking.
 
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CWatters said:
For me the critical position is half a click left of centre. What's surprising is how precise the critical position is. There is only a narrow band where I hear both, as if two people are speaking.
Yeah, me too except that my "double speech" spot is just to the right of center. I got even more weird results though. In the middle I hear Laurel, clearly. As I moved the slide to the right I immediately started hearing Yanni. Then as I moved it back, I heard Laurel in position where I had at first heard Yanni. This is all very weird.
 
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phinds said:
Yeah, me too except that my "double speech" spot is just to the right of center. I got even more weird results though. In the middle I heart Laurel, clearly. As I moved the slide to the right I immediately started hearing Yanni. Then as I moved it back, I heard Laurel in position where I had at first heard Yanni. This is all very weird.

I didn't hear Yanny until I'd cranked the slider almost all the way to the right but had the same thing where moving it back caused that perception to stick for a good chunk of the slider.
 
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I can selectively hear either one without changing the slider by choosing which one I want to hear. Like those 'double picture' optical illusions.
 
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