Golden Ears?

[SteveWZ]

First heard the "Laurel / Yanni" thing in the living room with very decent speakers: I heard Laurel.
Next I heard it on the bedroom TV with crappy sound: I heard Yanni.
Next day I heard it on a MacBookPro, and I could hear them both!

Now back on the GoldenEars subject....

Its not so much about the "very decent speakers", its more about the frequencies captured (or not) in these recordings AND what frequencies you hear better, lower or higher.

Benjamin Munson, a professor of audiology at the University of Minnesota, suggested that "Yanny" can be heard in higher frequencies while "Laurel" can be heard in lower frequencies.

Older people, whose ability to hear higher frequencies is more likely to have degraded, usually hear "Laurel".

[mitchiemasha]

That perception is mediated by the intellect is undeniable.

Thank you for your reply, especially the interesting leads.

[mitchiemasha]

Its not so much about the

Yes the Y/L thing is easily explained. Again... I didn't really want to make this thread about it, I used it as a gateway to a much bigger more fascinating phenomena. Something I've been curious about for sometime after hearing the sounds you can't unhear experiment. I thought, because of the Y/L thing, it would of been the perfect time to bring it up.

If i return to the sound clip, after sometime i do unhear it, but not completely and it's only a few listens before it returns to full complete, with out listening to the guy tell you what it is.

The Y/L is related to frequency masking and a lot to do with the Tritone paradox. If 2 notes are played at the same time, followed by 1 higher and 1 lower note at the same time, some people will hear that as ascending progression, others will hear descending. Our brains pick one and it's entirely dependent to the individual. We don't hear both progressions, even though both exist.