Yanny or Laurel?!

[CaliforniaDream]

AIBU to think that anyone who hears Laurel is playing a practical joke? It's definitely yanny!

twitter.com/cloecouture/status/996218489831473152?s=12

Frilly, same here. I hear both too.
Laurel louder in an English accent, and Yanny in a more whispered american accent.

They both sound like an American accent to me. Yanny just sounds higher pitched.

On an iPhone playing through speakers.

Volume low (on the 3rd bar) and hold speaker up to ear I hear a woman’s voice say yanny.

Volume a bit higher (4 and above) it’s a mans voice saying Laurel.

The first 10 times I played it I could only hear Laurel until I adjusted the volume right down.

I heard Yanny on the radio but then Laurel on the laptop link. I'm confused!

Laurel. HOW do you hear yanny???

I'm another who can hear both. Though easier to hear Yanny :)

Agreed, changing the volume on your phone changes what you hear. Higher volume for Yanny and lower for Laurel. When I first heard it I could only hear Laurel!

I (39) hear yanni - i have hearing damage so hear high pitches ok but struggle with low pitch
Dd2 (2 3/4) hears annie,no prompts slight cold hearing otherwise thought to be ok.

Neither hear any 'l' sounds...

Dh, dd2 and I all hear Laurel.

Dd1 and my mother hear “yeery”. I told them that wasn’t an option but they adamantly and separately both said yeery.

Dh got hilariously hot and bothered by it all “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YEERY?!! THAT VOICE IS SAYING LAUREL!!”
Then I showed him the picture of the dress and it was all too much and he stomped off to work muttering about “internet nonsense”

Just played the clip to my friend and I hear Yanny, she hears Laurel!! She did hear Yanny to start with, but on repeated plays it turned into Laurel for her, whereas all I can hear clearly is Yanny every time.

I can only hear laurel

I can only hear Yanny - and cannot understand how anyone can hear Laurel?

I've tried to make myself hear Laurel and said it repeatedly at the same time as the voice - but nope - it's still Yanny.

I hear "Yairie" listening with headphones.

I can only hear yanny. Or maybe yelly...

I hear both. Yanny is higher pitched, Laurel is lower.

Tried again a few more times and I can hear the "n" if I listen really carefully. Still sounds more like "Yearnie", though. Laurel???

Interestingly, I just played it to 8 year old DD3, and she hears Laurel, or Lairel, with an accent.

Laurel as clear as day.

I heard yanny, then Laurel, now I can hear both!

I can only hear Yanny, totally clear, every single time I hear it. I can't understand how anyone would not hear it as that, but the science explains why people hear different things.

I can hear both.

Americans don't pronounce words incorrectly, just differently, surely?

It is not an accent, it is a mispronunciation. Another example is we pronounce Hereford as 'Hair a fud', Americans pronounce it as "Her Ford”. If you were living in Hereford and someone called it "Her Ford" you would consider it incorrect and not just different.

The name Claude is not the same as Clod - as in a clod of dirt, but they call people named Claude, Clod. (I always wished I would meet a man called Claude with the last name of Hopper). There is no audible difference when my in-laws say Dawn or Don, none at all.. For some reason they cannot pronounce certain words in this part of the U.S. Americans in other parts of the country can pronounce these words correctly, although Hereford will always be Her Ford in America.

The first time I heard it I heard laurel but listened again a few more times and all o can hear is yanny

If the 'mispronunciation' is consistent, then it is an accent. The vowel combo 'au' is rendered as a short O in American English very consistently.

Ostralia, Ostria, Clod/Clodette, clostrophobia...

They even teach it in schools:
www.theschoolhouse.us/lessons/lesson49.html
The letters (aw, au) have the same sound as short (o).

The word 'clod' would be pronounced differently in American English than it is in British English. It has more of an A sound.

There is a subtle difference between Dawn and Don in American standard English.

Not many Americans are called upon to pronounce Hereford in the course of their lives. If they attempted it, they would most likely introduce a very subtle glottal stop after 'her'.
They would use the rhotic R too for the last R, unless they were in Boston or New England in general, which would be very noticeable to someone speaking British English. Rhotic R is not 'wrong'. It is a perfectly valid pronunciation in all cases.

Claude Hopper would be Clod Haw-pper. The joke would fall flat.