The internet is completely divided over this bizarre audio illusion

“Basically, there is no “true” word and the stimulus has “clues” based on the formant frequencies that point to either one or the other word”, Oxenham said. She said, “Literally everything at my show just stopped to see if people hear Laurel or Yanny”.

A straw poll carried out among staff in AFP’s Washington bureau counted 17 for Yanny, and 14 for Laurel.

The debate rages on – what do you hear?

Having said that, all we can hear is “laurel” still!

Social media went insane debating the news.

You probably remember in 2015 the debate that took social media by storm – on whether a dress (or rather THE dress) in a photograph, was blue and black or gold and white? Some “Yanny” listeners say changing the frequency or pitch allows them to hear “Laurel” and vice versa.

Online search interest in Laurel is ahead of Yanny worldwide, according to Google Trends.

Cloe says she hears Yanny, while the replies to her tweet – which has now been retweeted more than 25,000 times – are flooded with people arguing.

Most people not only hear just one, but also insist that it can’t possibly be the other. You might actually hear sounds differently than the person next to you.

Some prominent people also chimed in, with British comedian James Corden writing on Twitter, “I’m a Laurel”. He attributed it partially to being 52 years of age, which meant his ears lack high frequency sensitivity. Dialect might influence the choice, and so might hearing loss.

Who is Team Yanny and who is Team Laurel?

However, in National Geographic, Brad Story from the University of Arizona’s speech acoustics and physiology lab claimed the original recording was “Laurel” but the confusion arises as the audio clip isn’t clear.

No matter how you hear it, you’re right.

“I don’t know why I’m so personally offended by this”, King said during their rousing debate over the recording.