Culture

Yanny vs. Laurel: Ivanka Trump Picks a Side in the Great Debate of 2018

Because there are no other pressing matters for the White House right now.

As the internet debates on whether they hear “Laurel or Yanny,” the audio debate made it all the way to the White House with a Trump chiming in, but not THAT Trump.

Ivanka Trump tweeted Thursday what she heard on the single word audio clip, and she is Team Laurel. The first daughter made her stance known with a simple “#Laurel” in her tweet. She also appeared in a White House video showing the reactions from members of the Trump administration.

The viral audio clip of an automated voice saying “Laurel” hit social media on Monday with the question of whether people could hear “Yanny or Laurel.” Similar to “the Dress” phenomenon from back in 2015, many heard one word, but not the other.

Science helped explain why some people heard “Laurel” while others heard “Yanny.” Dana Boebinger, a speech and hearing bioscience and technology Ph.D. student, explained the reason for the debate is due to frequencies, in particular, the frequencies emitted by the speakers of the device playing back the audio clip. Hearing the word on a pair of headphones will likely sound different than when it plays on the speakers of a laptop, for example. Rory Turnbull, Ph.D., an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, had an additional explanation. He said that some people tend to hear certain frequencies while ignoring the rest.

While the debate of “Laurel or Yanny” may continue on, at least the American people know where at least one Trump stands on the matter. As for President Donald Trump, the Twitter video from the White House Twitter account showed that he clearly hears “covfefe.”

Another important figure who chimed in on the debate was New Age artist, Yanni. What he heard will be of little surprise to many people.