Mystery Solved: Do you hear "Yanny" or "Laurel"?

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Do you all remember the mystery of the colored dress from a while ago? There was a huge debate over whether the dress was blue, black, white, or gold. The "Yanny vs. Laurel" is like the colored dress mystery all over again, but this time it's the difference between our ears.

What is the "Laurel vs. Yanny Audio"?
You may have noticed that recently people are listening to an audio clip and asking their friends whether they hear "laurel" or "yanny". The two words seem distinguished, how can people people mix them up? Well, try watching the video below and comment what you hear. (FYI, 47% people hear "yanny" while 53% people hear "laurel".

How did the "Laurel vs. Yanny Audio" begin?
A freshman at Flowery Branch High School looked up the word "laurel" on Vocabulary.com and played the audio. However, she heard "yanny" and found it very strange. She shared the audio clip on Instagram and soon it went viral. This audio clip soon sparked a huge debate all over the internet.

Why do different people hear different words?
"Several researchers agreed that the audio recording is just too ambiguous. Theoretically, listeners can hear different sounds depending on whether the low frequencies or high frequencies are amplified, CNET reports" (CNS News).

"The higher frequency sounds in the recording make people hear "Yanny," whereas the lower frequencies cause others to swear they hear "Laurel." What you hear depends on what sounds your brain is paying attention to, your past experiences, and what you're expecting to hear. What word you experience might also have to do with your age. Older adults often start losing their hearing within the higher-frequency range, meaning it's possible that more young people hear "Yanny" (Wired).

There's a scientific explanation for everything, once the audio clip went viral, it attracted the attention of researchers. Now the mystery is solved. Hope you enjoyed it! :)

Feel free to watch the video explanation by AsapSCIENCE from Youtube.