Remember last week's Internet meme?
I spent the week doing spectrographic analysis on dozens of clips from Vocabulary.com (the originator of "laurel/yanni"), Dictionary.com, NPR, and an instantly recognizable voice-over actor. What caused the ambiguity? Phonetic science suggested a couple of likely causes... but it's definitely not just a question of high vs low.
Then I talked to the Chief Technical Officer of Vocabulary.com. He told me historic facts about their workflow and technology. They knocked most of my theories out the window... but suggested a completely different one!
Unfortunately, the original actors' recordings are lost to time, so we can't absolutely verify. But it's likely.
And what I did learn can have some application to production and post!
It's at JayRose.com.