Yanny vs Laurel: the debate that has been invading classrooms for the past few days, causing many to remember the infamous “white-and-gold or blue-and-black dress” debate from 2015.  So why do some people hear one word instead of the other?

You can hear both, but you have to focus on it.  UCLA linguistics professor Patricia Keating said, “It depends on what part (what frequency range) of the signal you attend to.”  

In a survey done of both students and faculty by seniors, Yanny and Laurel were close. Ultimately, Laurel was more popular.

The link below is to a tool made by the NY Times, and lowers the frequency from one of the voices.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/16/upshot/audio-clip-yanny-laurel-debate.html