*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).
Few in the music industry have harnessed the hit-making power of social media as successfully as the K-pop artists who brought South Korean culture to the American mainstream. "I think there's always a lot of trends that you see in K-pop that then later on go on to other genres of music as well," says Angela Killoren, the COO of KCON, the largest celebration of Korean culture in the U.S.
As K-pop rises, so too does fans' admiration. More and more, ardent fans are choosing to interact with their idols on social media, said Jenny Zha, a senior engagement manager at Rakuten Viki, a popular platform for Korean videos.
These are the headlines you Need2Know on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
An investor with a sizable short position in Tesla said Elon Musk's most recent statement on taking the company private "was almost a confession that he committed securities fraud." The investor, Will Chamberlain, is part of a class-action lawsuit alleging the Tesla CEO didn't have sufficient basis for saying he'd take the company private at $420 a share. Chamberlain's lawyer, Reed Kathrein, says it's "pretty clear funding was not secured" before Musk's original tweet announcing his intentions.
A year after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, the country continues to see an upsurge in racism, says Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. But Cullors also says she sees more people "joining together in this moment to stand up for our rights."
Marc Lotter, former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, says Omarosa Manigault Newman's decision to record a conversation with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Situation Room was a violation "of every protocol
[and] procedure." He also says allegations in Manigault Newman's book contradict the former "Apprentice" contestant's previous statements about President Trump.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
The owners at Buffalo Wild Wings may have found a way to boost the sales of chicken wings and beer during the upcoming football season by organizing sports betting in its restaurants.
The CEO of video app Cameo, Steve Galanis, said he created his platform because "selfies are the new autographs." For the right price, users can get a video shout-out from celebrities – actress Bella Thorne and NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, to name a couple.
Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" opened nationwide on Friday, on the eve of the anniversary of the Charlottesville riots ー and that's no coincidence. The movie recalls the true story of Ron Stallworth, a black Colorado Springs police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.
