Very interesting!

More than the age, it could also be used to conduct a gender test ..if you hear Yanny, you're a fairer sex otherwise you're a male LOL!

On a serious note, I think the study concluding 47%-53% ratio is a bit skewed. It probably gave the listeners 2 clear choices to pick from. If I don't know any of those two words, I'd most likely hear something else (yes, there are more than 2 genders 😜). But 100% of the audience in this survey heard one of those two words sounds strange to me. IMHO, our brain tries to reconcile the gaps in our hearing with what fits best and meaningful according to our existing knowledge and interprets the missing gap accordingly.