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If you've spent any time on the Internet this past week, you've probably heard and then argued over a certain viral sound clip.

He's saying, "Laurel," some people swear. No, he's saying, "Yanny," others insist. But for Broadway and television actor Jay Aubrey Jones, he hears himself.


Jones did some voice work for Vocabulary.com, recording more than 36,000 words for the website in 2007, including saying the word, "Laurel." And apparently, that is the source audio for the "Laurel, Yanny" 

 that's been driving the Internet crazy.

"When I first heard this recording, it was on Wednesday morning on television, and I was putting myself together, and I did not recognize my voice at all," Jones tells 

After receiving several phone calls, texts and emails from a producer at Vocabulary.com and other friends, Jones says, "They explained that it was my voice that has been creating this brouhaha for want of a better word."

Jones says he actually hears the word, "Laurel," when he listens to the clip of his voice, but a friend of his "swore up and down that all she heard was 'Yanny.' "

"I think it has to do first of all with what has happened with people's computers or listening devices, also how people process sound, which is highly individual," he says.


Jones, whose three-decade Broadway career includes a run as an understudy in the musical 

, also appeared on the television shows, 

. Now, he's gone viral.
"I'm not sure" I'll add this to my resume, Jones says. "How does one put it? Under the caption, Radio: The 'Laurel' Guy."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Arts and Culture

Samantha Raphelson

Author

Broadway and TV actor Jay Aubrey Jones recorded thousands of words for Vocabulary.com. But his pronunciation of the word "laurel" went viral for sounding to some people like "yanny."

Meet the voice behind the 'laurel' or 'yanny' recording: actor Jay Aubrey Jones

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