Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

Auditory illusions

I've posted optical illusions on a Friday before. Plug some headphones into your computer and check out these auditory illusions recommended by New Scientist.

Links to individual illusions (the article above has explanations):

Barber shop: 3D realistic stereo experience.

Phantom words: "As you listen to it, you'll start to pick out specific phrases. However, none of the phrases are really there. Your brain is constructing them, in a bid to make sense of a meaningless noise. Indeed, you may find that the phrases you hear are related to what's on your mind – for example, people who are dieting often hear phrases associated with food." To me it just sounded like two women saying 'Nowhere'; what that says about my preoccupations I wouldn't like to say (*)

Musical scales: ' The brain reassigns some of the notes to a different ear in order to make a coherent melody... Right-handed people tend to hear the high melody in the right ear, and the low one in the left, while left-handers show a more diverse response.' (NB this is what I experienced, and I am right handed)

(*) ETA according to this metafilter discussion a lot of people heard 'nowhere', but also words such as 'background,' 'Melvin,' and 'Belgrade'.

Here's another one - watch with eyes open and closed - sounds different.
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  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.