Toy Story 3 audio illusion goes viral as fans debate whether character is swearing

An audio clip from the hit children’s film Toy Story 3 has left internet users up in arms after a TikTok user claimed that they could hear the movie’s Ken doll using a very rude expletive – while others insisted they hear nothing but an innocent exclamation.

The seemingly innocent footage from the 2010 animation shows a moment between Barbie and Ken, in which the latter is heard saying either ‘Oh, Barbie’ or ‘Oh f**k’.

The latest auditory illusion was first shared on TikTok on Saturday by user Kitty Feeley who asked her followers: ‘Do you hear “Oh Barbie” Or “Oh f***”.’

A TikTok video (pictured) has caused a frenzy online after listeners heard two different words from the same audio of a Ken doll, with some insisting they can hear him say: ‘Oh f**k’

She added: ‘I literally hear both… #toystory3 #yannyorlaurel’

The snippet, which has since gained nearly 30 million views, shows the moment in the movie where Barbie rips a tied-up Ken’s outfits with the latter screaming: ‘Oh [mystery word], those were vintage’.

One fan commented on Twitter: ‘Am I being gaslit? It’s obviously “oh f**k”.’

Another added: ‘At first it was clearly “Oh Barbie” but now all I hear is “Oh f**k”.’

One person tweeted: ‘I can only hear, “Oh, f**k.” I can’t hear anything that sounds like, “Oh, Barbie.”‘    

‘Bro wtf did you do to my brain… when I choose to hear “oh f**k” I do when I choose to hear “oh Barbie” I hear that as well,’ another added.

A TikTok user agreed as they wrote: ‘I HEARD OH BARBIE THE FIRST TIME AND NOW I CANT HEAR IT ANYMORE’ . 

‘There’s no way he says “oh Barbie”,’ another added, while one TikToker stated: ‘I never once heard “oh Barbie”.’

Fans couldn’t believe their ears when they realized it sounded like the Ken doll character was swearing in the 2010 children’s animation movie

Some listeners appeared to figure out a cause for the confusion as one wrote: ‘On my phone speaker, it was “oh f**k” or maybe “oh fark” but with headphones it’s clearly oh barbie’.

Another commented: ‘I can hear both, one caveat, I can’t hear “oh f**k” on earphones, I can only hear them on the speak. Any minf**kery doesn’t work on the earphones.’

Other users compared it to the 2018 ‘Yanny or Laurel’ debate and the equally viral ‘is the dress blue/black or yellow/gold’ saga of 2015.

Professor Valerie Hazan a speech, hearing and phonetic sciences expert from University College London, told the Huffington Post in 2019 that the reason behind the success of these audio tricks is that our minds can ‘latch on’ to a second perceived acoustic pattern. 

Many more were able to hear the expletive when listening to the clip 

‘The reason that a person can see their perception switch without explanation may also mean that our ears and brain have latched on to the other acoustic pattern than the one they were previously latching on to,’ she explained. 

The latest viral clip comes years after an audio emerged of a male operator saying either ‘Yanny’ or Laurel’, leaving everyone baffled around the world.

Reddit user, Roland Camry, shared the video, which went viral as people struggled to understand how some are hearing ‘yanny’ while others are hearing ‘laurel’ and some people are even hearing ‘yanny’ at first then ‘laurel’ or vice versa which is even more mind-boggling.

‘I hear Laurel and everyone is a liar,’ one person commented on Roland’s post while another wrote: ‘ARE YOU SERIOUS. It’s yanny for me.

‘How does it sound for you!? Is it like a high pitched squeaky kind of sound?’ she asked.

Others pointed out the ways in which they believed the auditory illusion was happening

Some fans likened the situation to previews viral illusions such as 2015’s The Dress and the Yanny vs Laurel debate in 2017

In response to the woman’s question asking if laurel has a high pitched sound, someone commented: ‘Nope.

‘Slightly deep sounding in fact, sounds like standard male voice text to speech.’

‘Yup. That’s all I hear too,’ another man agreed. ‘Deep announcer type text to speech voice saying laurel.’

Meanwhile, another person was seriously confused because they heard both.

‘I heard yanny in a high pitched voice for the first half of the very first time I played it, but heard laurel ever since. Weird…’

‘I heard yanny for 10-15 minutes, then asked someone else and they said laurel.

‘After listening it for some more time, I could sometimes hear a high pitched yanny or a low pitched laurel. True black magic f**kery,’ someone admitted about their interpretation.

Another user had a similar experience of hearing both words admitting: ‘At first I heard yanny and then listened for laurel enough times to hear laurel.

‘Then there was a period where it sounded like someone was saying yanny and someone else was saying laurel at the same time. But now I can only hear laurel. Black Magic f**kery.’

One person suggested playing with the bass frequencies to see if it would change the word that people hear and he even gave instructions.

‘Turn the volume up and down to hear each version. It has to do with the bass frequencies not being perceived as loud at lower volumes,’ the user advised.

‘If you turn the volume very low, there will be practically no bass and you will hear yanny. Turn the volume up and play it on some speakers that have actual bass response – not your phone – and you will hear laurel.

‘Obviously this also depends on individual physiology and on what you expect to hear. I’m assuming they combined the high frequencies of yanny with the lower frequencies of laurel with some overlap.

‘The two words are phonetically similar enough for this to work however, your brain can’t handle both at once, so it picks one and that is the version you hear,’ they continued.