Laurel & Yanny, Go & Done (Auditory Binaries)

Dynaxiom 1598: The internet is the place where things that were talked about a hundred years ago can seem new.

All it takes is a post by a social media "influencer" to get people all worked up over old news and information.

Yanny is simply the auditory equivalent of the old duck-rabbit (1892) or Necker Cube illusions. The dress example is frequently cited, but it is still the duck-rabbit, and its appropriate cultural equivalents. (There could also be some degree of Mandela Effect group-think).

One of my favorite pieces that uses the auditory duck-rabbit is the song "Run" by "Air".



In this part, the "Yanny" effect is on the word "go". If you listen closely, "go" and "done" will flip. The effect also occurs on the cross-fade of the guttural "G" (or "D") and a faux snare stick shot, where the word "go" sounds like a percussion instrument.

Recite either of these lines against that phrase, and you will experience the flipping of the two words, as "on" or "off".

What was new about this meme was that it highlights the importance of individual perceptual ability, and could be an explanation of why we hear different things in music. Perhaps we should all have custom EQs based on the frequency bands of our hearing abilities.

Also, I wondered whether most of us have a natural preference for the word order Laurel and Yanny, like Bouba and Kiki, as opposed to the opposite, and whether that hierarchy changes our perception. It is interesting that what we refer to as the "duck-rabbit" is technically known as the "rabbit-duck".