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The Internet Is Divided Over Whether This Robot Is Saying “Laurel” Or “Yanny”

It's the new 'blue or gold dress' and we hate it.

by Patrick Lenton  16 May 2018
Yanny Or Laurel

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In the insufferable tradition of the ‘blue or gold dress’ debate, we now have the horrific rise of ‘Yanny’ versus ‘Laurel’.

Twitter user and vlogger Cloe Feldman has kicked off the world’s most frustrating debate, uploading an audio recording of a robot saying a word.

But what word? This is what has driven the internet apart, with some people reporting to hear “Yanny”, and others “Laurel”.

The reason Yanny or Laurel is the rightful heir to the horror of the blue and gold dress is that people find it almost impossible to understand HOW anyone could hear the opposite word.

For example, I honestly believe anyone who hears “Yanny” might be a sociopath.

Naturally, a thousand theories have risen about what is causing this example of aural dissonance, such as young people only hearing “Yanny” with their fresh, sharp ears. Others believe it changes from phone to desktop to laptop.

One of the most popular ideas basically centres around pitch and bass and other noise science.

Over at The Atlantic, they got a phonetician on board to provide the expert opinion that  “the linguistic perspective on this whole debacle is that everyone is right.”

Once again, science proves itself to be a coward. Instead what we should be doing is dividing ourselves into a society defined by which word we can hear, an endless and pointless feud between the bloodthirsty Yannys and merciless Laurels, that will tear our world apart.

Naturally, people are quickly declaring allegiance to each side:

Of course, maybe the entire debate is pointless and we should be focusing on huge brains on more important things, like saving the world or not crashing the car on our way to work.