*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).
A gender gap persists in most industries, but among the most glaring examples of the disparity can be found in beverage manufacturing ー a business in which men make up roughly 80 percent of executives. In order to close that gap, Constellation Brands ($STZ) has announced it will invest in female-founded beverage companies, beginning with Austin Cocktails and Vivify Beverages.
Times Square is known as the "crossroads of the world," but tell that to Stacey Cunningham. The CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, the first woman to hold the job in the exchange's 226-year history, said it's at the NYSE where capitalism, economics, politics and "the world at large" converge.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Dec. 6, 2018.
Los Angeles is taking a strong stance against single-use plastic straws: the local City Council is moving forward with its "Plastic Straws on Request" initiative with an ultimate goal to phase them out completely by 2021. "This has been a long time coming," Mitch O'Farrell, Los Angeles city council member, told Cheddar Thursday. "I wish that the city had acted 10, 15 years ago."
At a moment when public trust in media is at a low ebb and cries of "fake news" are rampant, Consumer Reports has managed to retain the trust of its 6 million consumer members ー and the ear of top CEOs.
Graffiti artist to the stars Darrius "Spraykid" Ford isn't seeking out new celebrity clients. Instead, he's leveraging his success to prop up new and emerging artists. The Chicago-based Ford's favorite medium is graffiti, but he said he's always partial to "layering" different materials.
When Bombas co-founder Randy Goldberg learned that socks were the most-requested item in homeless shelters, he became "obsessed" ー and turned his fixation into a company so he could solve the shortage. Goldberg told Cheddar he launched Bombas to manufacture a durable, yet comfortable sock that shelters could use.
Sarah Michelle Gellar wants to slay the baking industry. The actress formerly known as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and her two partners are the brains behind Foodstirs, a new organic, non-GMO line of baking products that seek to inject some new life into a stale aisle of the grocery store.
At the very least, consignment brand the RealReal has built a prototype for retail paradise in West Hollywood, Calif., for its new brick-and-mortar location. Cheddar's own Alyssa Julya Smith took a tour of the sprawling store, lined wall-to-wall with luxury handbags, clothing, and accessories.
Neighborhood Goods is modernizing the department store in a neighborhood near you. The retail start-up recently planted its first, 14,000-square-foot, brick-and-mortar location in Plano, Tex., and according to the company's co-founder and CEO, he's eyeing Chicago, Atlanta, D.C., Nashville, or Seattle for his next move.
