Move Over Laurel and Yanny: Meet 'Brainstorm' and 'Green Needle'

After the big Laurel/Yanny debate earlier this week, our collective minds were blown by how two people sitting next to each other could listen to one sound and hear two completely different things.

Well, that’s where we find ourselves again, folks. A recent tweet by @LiquidHBox included a short video. Amazingly, when you think of the word “brainstorm” while listening to the corresponding audio, you hear “brainstorm,” and when you think of the words “green needle” while listening, you hear “green needle.” WHAT?! Make sure your audio is on for this.

guys….play this clip with the audio on.

If you think of the word "Brainstorm" you will hear Brainstorm.
If you think of the words "Green Needle" you will hear Green Needle.

We are officially in the matrix and I have no idea what is going on pic.twitter.com/PAwWlTn0GN

— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) May 17, 2018

When I watched, I thought that maybe it was a nebulous recording and that I would hear just any word I was thinking of. Nope. Not the case.

Of course, the internet went nuts again:

when you realize this means that you have potentially been hearing things differently from other people your entire life…music, noises, phrases, and maybe every sound. Might be why a song sounds amazing to you but horrible to another person?? pic.twitter.com/JTXYQNP0gL

— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) May 17, 2018

Some people tried hearing a combination of the words. This did not work for me, though.

I can make myself hear a combination, such as "Brain needle" or "Green storm" so weird

— Royale (@Royale_Brooks) May 17, 2018

Are we losing our minds?

why did you have to curse my twitter feed with this, now I am wandering around my house making sure everything is where it is supposed to be and that Bearnstein Bears is written the right way

— IG| RichardFaceMcgee (@richfacemcgee) May 17, 2018

Something called the McGurk effect might explain this whole “brainstorm” vs “green needle” phenomenon to an extent:

https://t.co/hxIsQbrKel pic.twitter.com/zPseov7eau

— 🌃 (@codyave) May 18, 2018

But the effect refers more to seeing a word formed while listening to it being said. (In this case, what we see overrides what we hear.) But in the case of the audio clip above, we’re not looking at anyone saying these words. We’re just thinking them. And that is completely bonkers.