*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).
Millennials have been dubbed the "entitlement generation"; they may also be the prenup generation. According to Anne Cochran Freeman, a divorce lawyer and partner at Sideman & Bancroft, that "entitlement" translates to a desire for protection ー which may have contributed to a rise in prenuptial agreements by a factor of five over the last 20 years.
Marriott's reservation system for its Starwood hotel properties has been breached since 2014, exposing the sensitive personal data of up to 500 million guests over more than four years, the world's largest hotel chain revealed Friday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 30, 2018.
Ricardo Marques, group VP of marketing core and value brands for Anhueser-Busch InBev, brought the iconic Clydesdales to the NYSE tree lighting, where he told Cheddar how Bud is celebrating the holidays and the 85th year since prohibition ended in the U.S.
Martin Nolan, the executive director of Julein's Auctions, gave Cheddar an up close look at a few of his favorite pieces from the upcoming auction of Hugh Hefner's personal effects. And some are priced to sell.
Even for Kasseem Dean, a.k.a producer, rapper and art enthusiast "Swizz Beatz," the hustle never stops. After more than two decades in the music industry, Dean's best advice for young creatives is never to forget the "business" in art business."We devote so much time to the creative that we miss out on the business. So it's the music business, fashion business, art business ー and a lot of creatives miss the business part and they waste their time," Dean told Cheddar on Thursday.
Alex Corcoran, senior director of seasons at Hershey, told Cheddar about how the candy giant looks at the holidays as a market unto itself. Everybody indulges in candy at this time of year, he said, even the most health-conscious among us.
Ignorance is a major impediment in the effort to reverse climate change, said the former chief sustainability officer for the Obama administration. “I think lot of it is lack of awareness, these are topics that a lot of energy nerds like myself have been thinking of for a long time," Christine Harada, the president of i(x) Investments told Cheddar on Wednesday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018.
Facebook has failed to properly address its “black people problem,” a former employee told Cheddar Wednesday. Earlier this month, former partnerships manager Mark Luckie sent a searing memo criticizing the company’s lack of racial diversity to Facebook employees shortly before he left his post. He recently published the memo, which quickly went viral.
