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Ga. student behind Laurel vs. Yanny asking Ellen DeGeneres for help

While the audio illusion has people hearing either "Yanny" or "Laurel" we also wanted to know the science behind this confusing yet viral post.

Laurel or Yanny? You must have heard about the audio illusion. If you haven't. then you either do not have access to the internet or you live under a rock.

Just kidding, but seriously.

This phenomenon has been all over TV and has been discussed many a day in our own 11Alive newsroom.

11Alive got a chance to speak with a high school freshman at Flowery Branch High School who claims she's was the one who posted "The Dress" for ears first.

"I went home and posted it on my Instagram and it got reposted then from Reddit to Instagram to Twitter and it's just blown up, it's crazy," Hetzel said.

It started as an innocent post that quickly went viral and now, her teacher has cut a deal with her.

According to Hetzel, this all started out as a vocabulary assignment, "My literature teacher who gave me this assignment said that if Ellen DeGeneres responds to me within a week then I get a free 100% on my assignment. That would really help my GPA. So Ellen, if you're watching this, tweet me, on Twitter, and I can get a good grade."

While the audio illusion has people hearing either "Yanny" or "Laurel" we wanted to know the science behind this confusing yet viral post.

Hetzel explained why some people hear "Laurel" and other hear "Yanny."

She originally wanted to know how to pronounce the word "Laurel" so Hetzel put the word into Audioclip.com but when she heard the word spoken to her through the program, she heard the word "Yanny."

"I hear both," Hetzel said. "At first I only heard Yanny then I heard Laurel and sometimes it switches in the same recording."

She played the same clip for her class and it turned into "The Dress" for your ears.

11Alive spoke to Audiologist Dr. Maria Wynens who herself is "Team Yanny."

"It's not our ears that do the hearing, it's our brains. And our brains can be wired up to hear the lower or higher frequencies," Dr. Wynens said.

This lead to Greg Crawford a sound mixer who is "Team Laurel." He said with a little manipulation, even the team captain of "Team Laurel" could switch sides.

Both Dr. Wynens and Crawford agree that what you hear changes depending on how your brain is wired, your hearing ability, and what speakers you listen through.

"The recording isn't that clear and there's a lot of noise in there, so it's not easy for the brain to pick out the lower frequencies or the higher frequencies," Dr. Wynens said. "Laurel is low frequency, Yanny is high frequency."

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