Modern Mysteries

Speech-to-song audio illusion hits the Web

By T.K. Randall
June 10, 2018 ·  10 comments

Why do repeated words end up sounding like song lyrics ? Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Evette Hot on the tail of the infamous 'Laurel or Yanny' audio illusion, researchers at the University of Kansas have created an intriguing example of what is commonly known as the speech-to-song illusion.

To begin with, four words are spoken, one after the other:

When the words are continuously repeated however, they sound like the lyrics of a song:



The key to this illusion, scientists believe, lies in how we interpret language as words and syllables.

When we hear the words repeated over and over, we pay less attention to their meaning and more to how they sound. Eventually, all we can hear is the beat of the syllables, as if it were a piece of music.

Source: The Verge | Comments (10)

Tags: Words, Illusion