Yanny or Laurel

[Maria D]

Which do you hear?

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ople-hear-different-things-in-that-viral-clip

 

[tyty333]

Neither

 

[Calliecake]

I heard this on TV today and heard Yanny. On the link that is attached above I heard Laurel. Strange.

 

[lyra]

I only hear Laurel. For an explanation, this is a great video to watch:

 

[Gussie]

I heard laurel this morning, yanny now. Probably tired ears, lol.

 

[Dancing Fire]

I heard Laurel

 

[telephone89]

Laurel. I asked around my office and I was the only Laurel! Everyone else was Yanny.
I did read a different article that had some tone adjustments and I heard Yanny in one - but when I tried to listen again it was gone lol.

eta https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/dont-rest-on-your-laurels/560483/
If you scroll about half way down the article you'll see the links to the tone adjustments.

 

[missy]

I hear Yammy. That's right, with 2 M's.
My dh OTOH hears Laurel.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/16/upshot/audio-clip-yanny-laurel-debate.html

• JOSH KATZ, JONATHAN CORUM and JON HUANG MAY 16, 2018

The internet erupted in disagreement on Tuesday over an audio clip in which the name being said depends on the listener. Some hear “Laurel.” Others hear “Yanny.”

We built a tool to gradually accentuate different frequencies in the original audio clip. Which word or name do you hear, and how far do you have to move the slider to hear the other? (The slider’s center point represents the original recording.)

LaurelYanny
Let us know when you hear the words change and help us learn where Yanny people become Laurel people (and vice versa).
The clip and original “Yanny or Laurel” poll were posted on Instagram, Reddit and other sites by high school students who said that it had been recorded from a vocabulary website playing through the speakers on a computer.

One detail may frustrate some and vindicate others: The original clip came from the vocabulary.com page for “laurel,” the word for a wreath worn on the head, “usually a symbol of victory.”

Frequency, in kilohertz

6

5

Higher

frequencies

4

3

2

Lower

frequencies

1

0

L

A

U

R

E

L

(The controversial audio clip)

Y

A

N

N

Y

The source “laurel”

A spectrogram of a vocabulary.com clip of the word “laurel” shows strong lower frequencies and relatively faint higher frequencies.

An ambiguous recording

Playing the “laurel” clip over speakers and re-recording it introduced noise and exaggerated the higher frequencies.

Those higher frequencies may have led to confusion over whether the word was Laurelor Yanny.

A simulated “Yanny”

For comparison, a spectrogram of the same vocabulary.com voice saying “Yanny” shows a similar pattern of strong high frequencies.

The spectrogram was created by merging clips of the voice saying “Yangtze” and “uncanny.”

One way to understand the dynamics at work is to look at a type of chart called a spectrogram — a way to visualize how the strength of different sound frequencies varies over time. The spectrograms above 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.

By using the slider to manipulate which frequencies are emphasized, it makes one word or the other more prominent.

Does anyone else hear YaMMy with 2 M's? I guess I really do march to the beat of an offbeat drummer.

 

[Maria D]

When I posted it last night I could only hear Yanny (sitting in my small den). This morning, in my large classroom, I can only hear Laurel! Most of my students hear one or the other with a couple saying they can hear it both ways by focusing.

Weird!

edited to add: Just read ceg's reply...same issue here, Yanny at night Laurel in the morning.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

DH played this last night and I heard Laurel but this was after wine night

 

[House Cat]

 

[ksinger]

Super interesting. Especially The Atlantic piece's explanation of the raising an lowering of the pitch of the recording. Doing that changes the vowel, which I can't help but think is another (kind of strange and backward) demonstration of what classical singers know quite well: vowels have pitch. I'm reading that as the formant that gives the vowel its characteristic sound, becomes more or less prominent within the pitch-modifed mixes, resulting in a different vowel.

I'll have to think about this one a bunch though!

 

[AprilBaby]

Definitely Laurel.

 

[lyra]

So I had my husband listen to this on HIS computer, and all I could hear was Yanny. I said "Why is it saying Yanny?!", he replied, "It's not, it's saying Laurel!". LOL. A wacky conversation ensued. Obviously my computer has better sound?

 

[meely]

Definitely yanny that other audio thing at the bottom of the article was interesting.

 

[Maria D]

fascinating back-story...

https://www.wired.com/story/yanny-and-laurel-true-history/

 

[Cluless]

all I hear is Yanny, DH was in living room and I played it for him and asked what do you hear without telling him what this was about. His response "not sure, not very clear sounds like Kill Me" lol when I told him to come closer he heard Yanny lol

 

[Dancing Fire]

I heard Laurel

but now Yanny.

 

[tyty333]

I hear YaMMy too... (thats why I put neither above).

There is no way my brain/ears can get a Laurel out of that!

 

[missy]

I hear YaMMy too... (thats why I put neither above).

There is no way my brain/ears can get a Laurel out of that!

Yesss! Thank goodness I am not alone. I was wondering if the mercury was affecting my interpretation of sounds now. Whew!