The “Yanny or Laurel” audio illusion became one of the most viral listening puzzles on the internet, and millions of people argued about what they heard. In this article I explain the science behind why different people hear different words from the same recording, and how it’s possible to hear both.
The ambiguity works a lot like an optical illusion, because the recording:
- contains several frequency cues at the same time
- depends on how your brain interprets the sound
- works differently for different listeners
Listen to the original clip below to test yourself. Then watch my video at the top of this post to hear both words.
In this article
Laurel: the original audio
Download the Original Audio (WAV)This is the original recording that took the internet by storm and started one of the biggest listening debates online. The voice belongs to Jay Aubrey Jones, who recorded the word “laurel” for a pronunciation entry on Vocabulary.com. For several days, millions of people debated the same question: is the voice saying “Laurel” or “Yanny”?
What makes this recording so interesting is that the spoken word really is “laurel”. But because of audio compression, frequency filtering and differences between playback devices, many listeners heard “Yanny” instead. That unexpected ambiguity turned a simple dictionary recording into a worldwide internet phenomenon.
Source: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/laurel
The voice behind the “laurel” recording: Jay Aubrey Jones interview
In this interview with David Pogue, Jones talks about the recording. Some 10 or 11 years after he made it, it became an internet mystery, with some people hearing “Laurel” and others “Yanny”, which split listeners right down the middle.
And yes, Jones hears “Laurel” too.
What is the Yanny vs. Laurel illusion?
The clip contains overlapping frequencies that can be heard as different words. Some listeners hear “Yanny“, others hear “Laurel“, and some can switch between the two when the sound is changed or slowed down.
This is not a hearing problem. It’s a normal effect of how we perceive sound and process frequencies.
The science behind the illusion
1. Frequency range matters
Human hearing covers roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, but this range changes with age and differs from person to person. The Yanny/Laurel clip contains overlapping high and middle frequencies that match different speech sounds:
- High-frequency content tends to be heard as “Yanny“.
- Lower-frequency content tends to be heard as “Laurel“.
Phones, headphones and speakers each boost different parts of the frequency range, so what people hear varies from device to device.
2. Brain interpretation
Your brain fills in missing information and resolves unclear sounds based on:
- your experience with speech sounds
- which frequencies stand out
- what you expect to hear
This is similar to visual illusions, where the context changes what you see.
3. Changing the audio changes what you hear
If you filter the clip to boost the low or the high frequencies, or slow it down, many listeners can switch between hearing “Yanny” and “Laurel”.
This shows that both words are present in the same audio file. Which one you hear depends on the playback device and on your own ears.
Why some people hear one word and not the other
These are the main factors:
- Age and hearing range: our ability to hear high frequencies declines with age, so older listeners may hear “Laurel” more often.
- Audio system: speakers and headphones with strong bass push listeners toward “Laurel”.
- Ear sensitivity: some people are simply more sensitive to certain frequencies.
- Brain processing: the auditory cortex makes predictions and may favor one interpretation over the other.
Related concepts
The illusion works on the same principles as other auditory effects, such as:
- Phoneme ambiguity
- Frequency masking
- Speech perception illusions
- Ambiguous auditory stimuli
Just as visual illusions show how much the brain interprets what we see, this clip shows that hearing is an active process of interpretation, not just passive listening.
How to hear both Yanny and Laurel
- Open the clip in an equalizer (EQ) or audio editing app.
- Boost the low frequencies to hear “Laurel”.
- Boost the high frequencies to hear “Yanny”.
- Slow the clip down slightly.
- Try different headphones and speakers.
These changes alter which frequency ranges dominate the sound.
Summary
The “Yanny or Laurel” clip is more than a meme. It’s a real auditory effect based on how our ears pick up frequencies and how our brains interpret them, which is why millions of people hear different words in the same file.
Listen with different devices and experiment with audio filters: you may hear both.
