Wednesday Timesuck: The Strangest Sounds in the World
If you’re looking to kill some time at work today, explore this article from the BBC which seeks to explains some of the weirder corners of audio neuroscience, examples of audio illusions. For example, there’s something called the “tritone paradox.” Is the second note you hear higher or lower?
This consists of ambiguous sounds that either seem to be going up, or down, in pitch. People are convinced by their judgement – yet they can’t agree, a bit like TheDress. Surprisingly, the way you hear it probably depends on your accent – whether you are American or English, for instance.
Here’s another example. Chances are this will resolve into a woman’s voice repeating something over and over. But what is she saying? It depends. “No way?” “Love me?” “Welcome?” “Mango?”