Synaesthesia

[Gilly]

Have you heard of it? Do you know what it is?

synaesthesia
ˌsɪnɪsˈθiːzɪə/
Noun: synesthesia

The production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

This can come in many, many different forms. In essence, this means that when you see a colour, you hear a sound. When you hear a sound, it triggers a particular smell, or even when seeing particular letters/words/numbers getting a feeling of a particularly rough or smooth surface pressed against an area of your body. The most common forms appear to be smell/taste crossover - which makes sense when you think of the olfactory senses and where they are processed.

I am convinced that I am a synesthete, and my GP at the time concurred. The problem is, the type of synaesthesia I encounter is heavily colour-oriented. This is a problem due to my colourblindness and a lack of a test capable of fully diagnosing my condition without being reliant on true colour perception. As I delve more and more into the area of study I find more and more how very different my world is to everyone else's. It is little wonder that I struggle for clarity when I am using colour-coding in excel or similar with my more normally-sighted colleagues

Colourblindness is another thing that is largely misunderstood. Most people I have discussed synaesthesia with haven't even heard of it but most are aware of colourblindness even if they are ignorant of the true meaning of it. The response tends to be 'Oh, you're colourblind? What colour is this then?' *holds up random object*

More militant or irritable colourblind people have been known to follow that question up with another question, along the lines of 'if I were in a wheelchair would you ask me to stand?' I don't go in for that sort of histrionics but it is a sort of a disability in that it's something that I and others can't do that most people can.

Anyway, the true purpose of this thread is to bring to light the existence of synaesthesia, and to see if there are any people here that are or know others that might be sufferers. There's a lot of information on the synaesthesia battery site, and there is also a test.

I encounter a few of the synesthete symptoms, but most common is the impression of a colour when I hear particular sounds. It's often a heavy impression that intrudes on my mind, but sometimes something that is just a background idea.

Please take the test and report back

 

[Gilly]

We covered it in undergrad. Although I've never met anyone with it myself.

You almost certainly have, according to one of the only formal studies to be done, it's believed it could affect up to 1 in every 2000 people!

I'm just weird because I'm right-handed and male, both of which very much go against the normal demographic.

 

[Gilly]

Took the test, more out of curiosity than anything as based on your description I was sure I'd never experienced anything like that before. Test seems to agree with me. Based on the questions in the test they sound like experiences or feelings you would easily be able to relate to.

For me, as soon as I heard of the term and was read the first tagline it seemed to slot into place in my mind. I'd described to my GP exactly what was read back to me, just in different words.

That said, it was the third GP I'd spoken to about it over the course of 5-6 years.

 

[Gilly]

Do you see the object or the light?

Me in particular?

I do get some colour crossover with particular numbers (3, 4, 7 and 8) but most often it is when I hear a particular note. Dependent on the volume and pitch I get a strong or weak impression of a bold or more vague colour. That's the problem really, it's difficult to work with given that I can't tell them exactly what colour and shade it is.

 

[Gilly]

Does this cover things like chills down your spine/tingling to certain pieces of music or is that a completely different phenomenon?

I think that's a physical reaction to a stimulus, but I'm no expert on it

 

[Gilly]

Fair enough.

I once met a fellow piano player who said he saw different colours for different notes (and chords - I suppose it's like a paint palette). Can't remember much detail though.

Going to a concert must be a mind-blowing experience with that kind of synaesthesia!

What he's describing fits perfectly within the synaesthesia arena

Let's just say that, whilst experiencing some 'things' in some clubs in my younger days, the bass drops and the uplifting trance-type songs really got me going

 

[Gilly]

I have it with peoples names.

Phil, for example is yellow. Brian is red.

My mother and her closest in age sibling have it too and we didn't know until a few years ago on a chance discussion. The rest of the family looked at us if we were mental.

I thought you were kidding until the last line! You are serious on this? Is this the only type you have pinpointed as being part of this experience?

It's really interesting that your parent and their sibling have it too. There's no proven genetic link at all, though it is recognised to exist within family groups. Most often this is just put down to people recognising what it is in themselves and being diagnosed with it, and then educating others that also then recognise it in themselves

Wow, I didn't actually think I'd get a positive result

 

[Gilly]

Philosophical question, if light reflects, do you see light or the object - being silly.

Ah, I understand. When you said light I read colour, my mistake

Have you read "Born on a Blue Day"?

I haven't, but I will. I knew it was about a savant but I didn't realise quite how much crossover into synaesthesia he must have.

 

[Gilly]

Some of you guys haven't watched House MD enough.

I thought I'd watched them all but can't remember that being covered?!