Yanny or Laurel Explained

The internet is flipping out over the Yanny or Laurel thing. Here’s the deal: Which ever you’re hearing is right, and it’s all based on a little audio science—and the quality of your headphones.

Yanny or Laurel is an internet meme started by Cloe Feldman with a single post on Twitter. She shared short low-quality audio clip and asked followers which name they hear. Some hear “Yanny,” and some hear “Laurel.”

What do you hear?! Yanny or Laurel pic.twitter.com/jvHhCbMc8I

— Cloe Feldman (@CloeCouture) May 15, 2018

Spoiler: The audio recording is someone saying “Laurel.” That doesn’t, however, mean if you hear “Yanny” you’re wrong.

What you hear is based on the quality of your earbuds or speaker. If the audio is compressed and the sound is pushed to the high end your brain can interpret the word as “Yanny” instead of “Laurel.”

So really, this is a test of how good your earbuds or speakers are. If you hear “Yanny” you’re probably using low quality Bluetooth earbuds or speakers. Sorry to have to break it to you like that.

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