TITLE

Laurel or Yanny? What We Heard From the Experts

DESCRIPTION

Similar to the “controversy” over whether a dress was perceived as white and gold or blue and black. (New York Times, February 27, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/yatuo6jd), another debate has arisen over how words have been auditory perceived.  The controversy involves whether listeners hear a stimulus (played from a website) as Yanny or Laurel.  The article offers speculation involving auditory perception, linguistics, and cognition.   For fun, the article provides a test that can be played in class.

SOURCE

New York Times, May 15, 2018, by Maya Salam and Daniel Victor

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/science/yanny-laurel.html

(Tiny URL)  http://tinyurl.com/y8zgzqmn

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

•Review both the dress debate and the Yanny/Laurel debate.  Show and play both from the article links provided in the article.

•How do the students respond to the dress controversy?  How do they respond to the Yanni/Laurel stimuli?

•Is there any similarity in their responses?  In that do those who see the dress as a particular color also hear the same sound  and vice versa?

•What are the speculations around the explanations given for the particular differences in the perception?