Do you hear Yanny or Laurel? Audio clip spurs social media debate

Do you hear what I hear?

That’s the question a short audio clip has sparked on social media. People are debating whether the word is “yanny” or “laurel.” How one hears it is similar to how people viewed a dress on the internet three years ago.

The debate began on Reddit and expanded throughout social media. Ellen DeGeneres tweeted that everything at her show stopped to see what people heard. She said she heard Laurel.

But New Age musician Yanni was in the Yanny camp.

The debate even reached Washington, with Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives weighing in.

Some people speculated the age of the listener might determine what people heard, while others changed the pitch to alter results.

As for the dress, some people said it was white and gold while others saw blue and black.