PBS高端访谈:Yanny还是Laurel 我们填补了大脑空白（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now to our "NewsHour" shares, something interesting that caught our eye. Yanny vs. Laurel, it's the auditory debate taking the Internet by storm today. "NewsHour"'s Nsikan Akpan and Julia Griffin explain how one sound can create two different experiences.

JULIA GRIFFIN: The Internet has been set ablaze over one sound and two words.

NSIKAN AKPAN: So, which did you hear, Yanny or Laurel? This audio clip, which first went viral on Reddit and then Twitter, features a robotic voice saying a specific word, but people's perceptions of that word differ dramatically, even in the "NewsHour" office.

MAN: Yanny.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Laurel.

WOMAN: Yanny.

WOMAN: Yanny.

MAN: Laurel.

WOMAN: Laurel.

NSIKAN AKPAN: How is it possible people are hearing different things? The sound is what's called an ambiguity illusion, and it's nothing new to neuroscientists.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Remember the dress from 2015? Some people swore it was gold and white, others black and blue. That viral photo is a visual version of an ambiguity illusion.

NSIKAN AKPAN: When a human brain encounters something it can't immediately understand, it tries to fill in the gaps.

JULIA GRIFFIN: In the case of Yanny v. Laurel, the frequency, or pitch, of the sound clip is cryptic to our minds. The original poster of the audio clip, an 18-year-old Reddit user from Lawrenceville, Georgia, recorded the pronunciation of Laurel off Vocabulary.com through his speakers. That distorted the sound.

NSIKAN AKPAN: This muddled sound causes our brains to fall back on their natural preferences.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Folks who prefer lower frequencies hear Laurel, while those who lean toward high frequencies hear Yanny.

NSIKAN AKPAN: This might explain why children are reportedly hearing Yanny. The human ability to hear higher frequencies fades with age.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Your speakers or headphones may also be to blame, as some sound systems are tuned to emphasize different frequencies.

NSIKAN AKPAN: People discussing the sound around you can also shift your mind's perception.

JULIA GRIFFIN: Ambiguity illusions typically cause our perceptions to land one way or the other.

NSIKAN AKPAN: Yanny/Laurel and the dress stand out because they clearly split a room.

JULIA GRIFFIN: But the neurological basis for exactly why is still a mystery to scientists. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Julia Griffin.

NSIKAN AKPAN: And I'm Nsikan Akpan.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And I don't know what the fuss is all about. It's Laurel.

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：现在进行我们的NewsHour分享栏目，有些趣事吸引了我们的目光。"Yanny" 还是"Laurel"的听力分辨，今日在互联网上热炒起来。NewsHour记者尼坎·阿克潘和朱丽亚·格里芬向我们解释为什么同一段音频却能制造出两种完全不同的听觉体验。

朱丽亚·格里芬：互联网上对"Yanny" 还是"Laurel"的听力分辨展开激烈争论。

尼坎·阿克潘：那么，你听到的是什么？这段音频剪辑首先在Reddit上传播，随后Twitter上也出现转发，音频中，一个机器人发声，说出一个特定单词，但是人们对这个词的看法出现强烈分歧，就连NewsHour办公室里，也展开了辩论。

男人：Yanny。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：Laurel。

女人：Yanny。

女人：Yanny。

男人：Laurel。

女人：Laurel。

尼坎·阿克潘：人们怎么可能听到不同的内容？这个声音是一种模糊幻觉，对于神经科学家们而言，这并不是什么新鲜事。

朱丽亚·格里芬：还记得2015年的裙子事件吗？有些人发誓它就是金色和白色的，有些人则认为它是黑色和蓝色的。那张疯传的照片正是模糊幻觉的一个视觉版本。

尼坎·阿克潘：当人类大脑遇到无法立即理解的东西时，就试图填补这些空白。

朱丽亚·格里芬：在"Yanny" 还是"Laurel"一事上，音频片段的频率或音高对我们的大脑来说相当神秘，（无法立即理解。）"Yanny" 还是"Laurel"的音频片段来自于格鲁吉亚劳伦斯维尔一位18岁的Reddit 用户，他用自己的麦克，从Vocabulary.com网站录下了Laurel的发音，将其发布。

而这一过程将原本的声音扭曲。

尼坎·阿克潘：这种混乱的声音使得我们的大脑回归了其自然的偏好。

朱丽亚·格里芬：喜欢低频声音的人们会听到Laurel，而那些倾向于高频声音的人们则会听到Yanny。

尼坎·阿克潘：这也许可以解释为什么孩子们听到的是Yanny。人类听到高频声音的能力随年龄的增长而减退。

朱丽亚·格里芬：也可能是你扬声器或耳机的问题，因为一些播放系统可以经过调解，对不同频率的声音加以强化展现。

尼坎·阿克潘：人们在你周围讨论这些声音，也能改变你的听辨判断。

朱丽亚·格里芬：模糊幻觉通常会让我们的感知以某种方式体现。

尼坎·阿克潘："Yanny" 还是"Laurel"以及裙子事件脱颖而出，是因为我们为它们开辟了一个领域。

朱丽亚·格里芬：但其神经层面的确切原因，对于科学家们而言仍是一个未解之谜。PBS NewsHour，我是朱丽亚·格里芬。

尼坎·阿克潘：我是尼坎·阿克潘。

朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：我不知道这有什么大惊小怪的。就是Laurel嘛。