What do you hear? (see details.) And can you explain this?

Jerry.
At least, that what youtube’s auto-captions seems to hear.

I hear laurel.

I hear YAMMY. I did hear LAUREL the first time though, but I can’t seem to bring it back.

It is like that white and gold dress all over again.

At first it sounded like MEOW. On further listening, it sounds like YAMMY

laurel

I hear both…but I also hear YAMMY with an M @marissa. Try different devices and different volumes.

On my phone I hear LAURAL.

I hear Yanny.

I hear Jerry.

Yanny. I don’t know how can it sound Laurel to anyone?

They had this on my local news tonight. When I listened from my cell I heard YLaurel. I definitely heard the Y pronounced before the Laurel. They are saying that this is dividing families as well as dividing the country. My question is WHY??? I find it a lot more troubling that N Korea is backing out of dismantling their nukes!!!

@imrainmaker I thought the same until I heard it on a different device where I heard YLaurel as clear as I heard Yammy on my computer.

Yeah..it has to do something with device you’re using!!

The recording is noisy and low quality, which means that your brain has to do a bit of extra interpretation. This can be further complicated by how your device filters audio files and by whether your hearing is impaired at all (both of which reduce the amount of information making it to your auditory cortex).

If your device uses a high-pass filter and/or if you have mid-range hearing loss, you will only be able to hear “Laurel.” If your device uses a low-pass filter and/or if you have high-range hearing loss, you will only be able to hear “Yammy.” But if all of your devices have high fidelity speakers and you do not suffer from any significant hearing loss, then you will probably be able to hear both “Laurel” and “Yammy” (either simultaneously, or with minor changes in your listening condition).

That said, not everyone is going to process the audio file in the same way even if they don’t have any sort of hearing loss. So even though there is a plethora of tweets and videos that manipulate the clip in various ways (most often by changing the pitch), how much manipulation it takes for someone to hear it differently will vary (and some might never experience a change in how it sounds to them).

I heard both at the same volume on the same device, but I can’t control which one I hear.

“Yanny” clear as day.

Here is the original source of the audio file, and here is the clip at different speeds. At the end of the day, it’s just an aural illusion. What you hear depends on how your brain fills in the gaps.

Coolness. Thanks. At one point I could hear both at the same time.

I went back & looked at the dress last night. The first time I looked at mit, I saw a gold & white dress. Last night the dress was blue & black. Maybe I need new glasses!!!

It’s all Laurel to me. Heard from another room, I still heard Laurel but someone else heard Yanni who heard Laurel when she listened to it at close range.

Some people say Laurel is low-pitch and Yanni higher-pitch, and some say they can choose which to hear by paying attention to the high sound or the low sound.

I tried @SavoirFaire ‘s link to the different speeds and heard Yanni start to be added to Laurel as it got slower – starting at about -35% speed.

Here is the back story. A couple of kids had reason to look up “Laurel” on Dictionary.com, and to play the pronounciation. One kid heard “laurel” and the other heard “yanny.” They shared it and Bob’s Your Uncle.

The dress looks gold and blue to me.

I don’t know why such things are given so much importance? Are all other issues over?

What is wrong with having a bit of fun?

Fun?
Those who see a blue and black dress, or hear “yammy”, need to be burnt at the stake.
The god demands it.

I see gold and blue.

Someone get the thumb screws, you need to be re-educated.

“Laurel” is distinct in the low range—under a louder “Yanny” which is higher and more treble

Did not hear “Laurel” at first.
Turn the bass up or the treble down and its more distinct as Laurel,

I first listened to this last night when my roommate showed it to me on her phone. I listened at least 20 times and heard Yanny. Once they mentioned Laurel, I heard it very subtly in the background.

Today I listened to it again on my phone and heard Yanny, and no Laurel.

I took a nap and listened to it again—Laurel. Ever since then it’s all been Laurel.

So, what I now want to know, is…

Does anyone who hears “yanni”, also hear “yanni” when they listen to this ???

@Zaku Two people listening to that clip and hearing different things is what started all of this, so I’m going to wager that the answer to your question is “yes.”