Most of you by now must have been introduced to the ‘Yanny or Laurel’ audio which seems like a follow up on the ‘blue or gold’ dress. Many teenagers are debating whether it is Yanny or Laurel to the point where some have been called insane…and some, even deaf!

Sorry to break it to you all, but none of you are right. Although you may believe experience is truth, your reality will always be an interpretation. There is no right answer to this illusion as it is simply mumbles with some computer fiddling.
For those of you who hear Yanny, congratulations! You have good hearing skills…or just better quality speakers.

Okay, okay, for real let’s move onto the science behind this. The human brain picks up three different frequencies while listening to a speech. Those who hear laurel have slightly damaged hearing, causing their brains to hear only low-frequency components. While those who hear Yanny are easily able to pick up high frequencies with secure hearing.

The robot, in this audio is simply saying a word consisting of a pattern which starts with the same sound as it ends with, for example Laurel. The pattern here is L-R-L. Here’s the thing, in the word Yanny, the second frequency has almost the same pattern as the L-R-L in “Laurel”. So when the pitch of the voice is reduced we tend to hear Yanny, alternately when the pitch is higher, we hear Laurel.

Here we have it. The audio version of “the dress” is no matter of debate, but simply a computer trick correlating with your hearing abilities.