*By Alisha Haridasani*
It’s the most divisive question since the blue and black dress (or was it white and gold?!): Do you hear Yanny or Laurel?
Technically, the answer is "Laurel." But some people swear it's "Yanny."
The question, which is ripping the internet apart, revolves around an audio clip [reportedly](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/science/yanny-laurel.html) posted on Reddit by a student who found it on a vocabulary website when researching a school project under the word "laurel." The clip went viral, leaving many listeners questioning what they heard ー and maybe their sanity.
The discrepancy in what people hear could be due to circumstance, said Brad Story, professor of speech, language, and hearing at the University of Arizona.
“It really is going to depend on the information that you have in terms of your bias toward listening to it at that moment in time," said Story. "That’s what we call ‘top-down information’ ー trying to make sense of any kind of pattern that's present.”
The two words share very similar acoustic characteristics that your brain could selectively hear it one way or the other, he said.
The bass, frequency, and volume of the audio clip can also influence what someone hears. Some people posted videos on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JFLivesay/status/996585941241401346) where the audio levels were adjusted, changing how the clip could be heard.
So, whatever the *technical* answer to the question is, in reality, it can be both.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/yanny-vs-laurel).
Floridians will not have the opportunity to vote on recreational cannabis in November 2020. Make It Legal Florida, the organization behind a massive push to put adult-use cannabis on Florida's ballot, announced it will instead "shift focus" to the 2022 midterms.
Queen Elizabeth II agreed Monday to grant Prince Harry and his wife Meghan their wish for a more independent life, allowing them to move part-time to Canada while remaining firmly in the House of Windsor.
The list of nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards.
In bringing esports to the big screen, IMAX President Megan Colligan said the company is trying to find new ways to make the most of movie theaters at times when ticket sales generally lag.
Stocks are closing broadly lower on Wall Street after giving up early gains. The government's latest report on the jobs market showed a slowdown in hiring last month, but the number was solid enough to cement Wall Street's view that the job market is holding up.
Here are the headlines you Need 2 know for Friday, January 10, 2020
Experts say geopolitical tensions and sanctions make a hard job already harder, restricting the flow of information necessary to find the facts of the crash.
Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google’s head of product inclusion, spoke to Cheddar from the Consumer Electronics Show about the company’s “Inclusion Champions” group. “That's 2,000 Googlers globally who have been working and have volunteered to help us 'dogfood' or test our products before they launch."
Quibi’s Chief Product Officer Tom Conrad is confident that the new platform’s content will stand out among its peers with unique offerings.
Britain's royal family scrambled Thursday to contain the fallout from the surprise announcement by Prince Harry and Meghan that they plan “to step back” from royal duties, a shift that ignited media outrage and public unease in the U.K.
