# Laurel or Yanny **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250 "2018-05-15T23:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/1 "2018-05-15T23:29:23Z")
So this is another of those what color is the dress things, except now people are hearing a different word. Me, I’m clearly hearing one word, so it’s unclear how anyone could hear the other. But then the dress was CLEARLY white and gold. 😉 > **[Nobody can agree if this robot says 'Yanny' or 'Laurel' and everyone is...](https://www.businessinsider.com/yanny-or-laurel-recording-causes-arguments-2018-5)** > > Nobody can agree if this recording says "Yanny" or "Laurel." But science has a simple answer. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/2 "2018-05-15T23:36:27Z")
I hear nothing but “Laurel” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear “Yanny.” ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/3 "2018-05-15T23:54:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I hear nothing but “Laurel” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear “Yanny.” +1 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/4 "2018-05-16T00:16:09Z")
I hear nothing but “Yanny” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear ‘Laurel’ Apparently it’s supposed to change if you mix your sound with a different amount of bass, but I can’t figure out how to make Windows 10 do that, and don’t care enough to spend that much time on it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/5 "2018-05-16T00:31:16Z")
Yorrel. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/6 "2018-05-16T00:39:16Z")
Sounds like “Yarry” to me. Not even a hint of Laurel. And no N sound really. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/7 "2018-05-16T01:07:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I hear nothing but “Laurel” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear “Yanny.” This. I don’t even see how those words could ever be similar? There’s no “ee” sound in the spoken word. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/8 "2018-05-16T01:10:21Z")
Yanny, but I thought the dress was white and gold. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/9 "2018-05-16T01:11:29Z")
I hear a Y, never an L anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/10 "2018-05-16T01:15:36Z")
Yammy! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/11 "2018-05-16T01:21:09Z")
My wife is hearing ‘yally’, and my son heard ‘Yahweh’. Clearly this poll does not have enough options. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/12 "2018-05-16T01:21:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I hear nothing but “Laurel” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear “Yanny.” I’m the exact opposite. How to hear both: [https://www.spin.com/2018/05/how-to-hear-yanny-laurel/](https://www.spin.com/2018/05/how-to-hear-yanny-laurel/) It apparently has to do with the frequencies you can hear. “Yanni” is transmitted at the upper range of human-audible frequencies around 20kHz while “Laurel” is transmitted at lower freqs. I’m surprised a man in his mid-30s like myself can still hear around 20kHz. It might have been interesting to split the poll along gender and age lines. Perhaps posters could mention that along with what they hear. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/13 "2018-05-16T01:45:37Z")
My son just played it for me. I heard “Yarry.” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/14 "2018-05-16T01:47:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I hear nothing but “Laurel” there. I can’t even get my ears to hear “Yanny.” This ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/15 "2018-05-16T01:50:17Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Yammy! This. The middle consonant sounds more like an m than an n. I also hear a very slight d just before the y in yammy, almost like the speaker wanted to say dammy but changed it’s mind and said yammy instead. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/16 "2018-05-16T01:51:36Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > My wife is hearing ‘yally’, and my son heard ‘Yahweh’. Clearly this poll does not have enough options. Or Rabbinical approval. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/17 "2018-05-16T02:09:29Z")
Whoa, that was totally weird for me. The first four times I heard yanny, clear as a bell. Then it changed to laurel, and now I can’t hear yanny again. So strange. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/18 "2018-05-16T02:34:21Z")
At first I just heard a relatively high-pitched voice saying YANNY. Then I tried to hear where the LAUREL was supposed to be, and once I heard it, that’s all I could hear. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/19 "2018-05-16T02:38:31Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Yammy! Yeah, it sounds more like Yammy than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250/20 "2018-05-16T02:45:54Z")
I could only hear Laurel. But I’m hard of hearing, and apparently those that hear Yanny are hearing upper registers that aren’t audible to everyone. StG [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laurel-or-yanny/814250.md?page=2)