*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).
Does your bank account spark joy? With Marie Kondo fever sweeping the nation, her tidying method has led to the purging of countless dressers and kitchen cabinets. But the theory underpinning the so-called KonMari method can extend to your finances as well. Committing to the Marie Kondo method tends to have an immediate effect on your spending, said Julia Glum, a reporter for Money who has written about Kondo and her new Netflix show.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Feb, 6, 2019.
Papa John's CEO is hoping to bury the hatchet with its disgraced founder following a new $200 million strategic investment from the hedge fund Starboard Value. "What I believe is that we made the best decision that's in the best interest of all stakeholders, our employees, our franchisees, our customers, and ultimately the shareholders, and John [Schnatter] is clearly a very large shareholder," Steve Ritchie, president and CEO of Papa John's, told Cheddar Tuesday.
Why toke while you cook, when you can cook with cannabis? That's the question that inspired Joline Rivera to found Kitchen Toke, a foodie magazine about cooking with cannabis. "We saw [rapper] Action Bronson cooking ... getting high while he's cooking. And I thought to myself, 'you're getting high while you're cooking, why don't you just put the cannabis in the food?'" Rivera said.
Shares of Disney jumped after the bell on Tuesday, boosted by revenue growth in its television and parks divisions. The report was good news for investors looking to gauge Disney’s strength as it deepens its direct-to-consumer offerings in an effort to compete against rivals like Netflix and Apple.
When Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services opens its new, state-of-the-art suicide prevention center in Los Angeles, a literal sign of progress will hang boldly ー stating exactly what the institution is, a watershed moment in suicide awareness. "To be able to be that open about it shows me how far we've come," said Melissa Rivers, the entertainer and activist who recently joined the board of Didi Hirsch.
Producer, motivational speaker, and bestselling author DeVon Franklin thinks the vast majority of men have a lust problem ー but not in the traditional sense of the word. In his view, lust refers to a broader "selfish impulse for a personal, professional, financial, sometimes sexual gain by any means necessary," Franklin told Cheddar. In order to help men curb those impulses, Franklin has authored a new book, "The Truth About Men: What Men and Women Need to Know," a self help-style guide to self-control.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.
When Allison Robinson first became a mother, she, like may new parents, struggled to balance her full-time career and family. Eventually, she transformed her frustration into "The Mom Project," an online marketplace to pair moms with parent-friendly workplaces.
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman might be the MVP of the Super Bowl, but the #MVP award for Super Bowl brands goes to Planters' Mr. Peanut. Mr. Peanut won Twitter's #BrandBowl contest for generating the most brand-related tweets during the Big Game. "They ran a really smart sweepstakes on Twitter and were giving things away during the game," Ryan Oliver, Twitter head of brand strategy, told Cheddar on Monday.
