Forums > Social Discussion > Are There Any Other Synesthetes Here?

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Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
Synesthesia is an involuntary joining in which the real information of one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense. In addition to being involuntary, this additional perception is regarded by the synesthete as real, often outside the body, instead of imagined in the mind's eye. It also has some other interesting features that clearly separate it from artistic fancy or purple prose. Its reality and vividness are what make synesthesia so interesting in its violation of conventional perception. Synesthesia is also fascinating because logically it should not be a product of the human brain, where the evolutionary trend has been for increasing separation of function anatomically.
R. Cytowic, "Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses" Springer-Verlag, NY (p.1)


I have a crossover between my hearing and my vision (I see music or any sound for that matter) and know that it isn't really that common a thing. So, I was simply wondering whether anyone else here has it...

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


AkashlaBRONZE Member
member
72 posts
Location: On the far left of sane, Ireland


Posted:
Personally i dont, not as far as i know, but i have a friend who views the days of the week as being particular colours, Mondays are blue, and saturdays are brown etc.

I am not a bitch.
I am THE bitch.
And Im Miss Bitch to you.


PeleBRONZE Member
the henna lady
6,193 posts
Location: WNY, USA


Posted:
There is actually, believe it or not, a thread exsisting about this.
I can't remember the name but Doc Lightning started it because he sees sounds.

It was very fascinating. You might want to PM him and ask him what the name was so it can be bumped.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
Thanks Pele, I was kinda wondering if there was already a thread about it but couldn't see any.

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


blu_valleySILVER Member
fluffy mess
197 posts
Location: Brighton, United Kingdom


Posted:
I smell emotion. A certain smell vivdly brings on an emotion, and when I feel a strong emotion it is always accompanied by the ellusive scent.

eg:pineneedles-secure and safe or ice/the swell when you open a freezer-fear

"I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.." - Oriah Mountain Dreamer


squarexbearSILVER Member
....of doom!
585 posts
Location: Hastings, UK


Posted:
i have some kind of link between smell and emotion too, but i think its quite common...scent is extremely evocative...i also taste smells, but there is such a close relationship between smell and taste i guess thats not too unusual either.

MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Yup. But I can't find it right now, not because it's not there, but because I can't be arsed.

I'm post-call.

Excuse me. *collapses in a heap on the floor*

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


Arty FartyBRONZE Member
I wear yellow on monday
551 posts
Location: Farnham Ahoy, United Kingdom


Posted:
i had it when i did shrooms. i think sometimes drugs lift us up to the next level, seeing things clearly, for what they really are.

i havent done anything in ages, but last yr at the bestival (a festival on the isle of wight) i did shrooms for the second time (actually worked this time tho). i did a lot of p*lls the months up to that event, and anyone whos done them knows that you feel well loved up, even to a random stranger.

on shrooms i went to a dance tent where everyone was dropping. i remember dancing thinking 'they've missed it. those pill heads think they know what its about, but they dont, no-one knows or gets 'it')most likely because everyone had a cartoon pigs face as a face in my head anyway.

i felt elevated, i realised that doing pills was meaningless, a farce. these truffles showed me the light. im usually a mid/heavy smoker, but i only smoked one rolley that night. i knew that i didnt need it, and told myself that i would never need it again. (tho i smoked again the next day)something was telling me that all we need is food sunshine and good people. tho i continously stuffed my face with truffles that night. kinda hypocritical i guess.

dont know what the point of that rant was *raps knuckles on head*

oh yeah, i got it once, when i knew what eveyone was missing. if thats 'it'

You'll find me on the dance floor


Boo_BunnyBRONZE Member
Sparkely arty Mormon rainbow fairy
933 posts
Location: infront of you, United Kingdom


Posted:
Have you ever smelt a smell that smells like a taste? I do all the time.

For example:

Boo and freind in shop smelling soaps.
Boo- Wow, that smells like the taste of pineapple!
Freind- You mean it smells like pineapple?
Boo- No, It smells like the taste of pineapple.
(Freind takes one step away)
Freind- Your kinda weird, you know.

Is that synesthetes?

Property of Fine_Rabid_Dog


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Ok...suppose I see a blinking light.

I hear a "click" every time it blinks on or off. But I know I'm not actually hearing it. Similarly, someone walking behind vertical blinds makes a sound like a "ratatatatatat" except it doesn't, of course, make a sound.

Sounds have associated visual associations. I don't actually "see them," per se, but a sound might have an associated shape and color. For example, the beeping of a large truck backing up is a series of bars of color that depend on the tone of the beep. They're there, usually on my left-hand side with some extension to the right visual fields...but I don't actually see them. I know very well that they're not in front of me, they're more in my "mind's eye." I see them in the same realm where one sees memories and imagination.

Does that make any sense?

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


PeleBRONZE Member
the henna lady
6,193 posts
Location: WNY, USA


Posted:
Dr. L. nah, you explained it better last time wink lol

Boo Bunny, actually, your nasal passage connects to the back of your mouth, it's how we are capable of snarfing. So, when you smell something strong and can taste it, you literally are tasting the particles which are in the air causing the scent.

It is not Synesthetes, it is simply tasting.
My grandfather couldn't smell much of anything, and he also said he could only taste what he could smell. Poor man. Maybe it would make a good diet though. wink

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK


pr!m@temember
78 posts
Location: Birmingham UK


Posted:
When I'm really concentrating on music, especilly if I'm messing around with sequencers on a computer, I get sparkles in front of my eyes, some visual distortion, and sometimes a bit of tunnel vision and have to dance around.

Sometimes it's just the speaker coils in my speakers interfering with my monitor.

Sometimes I watch the patterns on the wall covering dancing in the spotlight.

One of my friends can write music that makes my bowels move. Is that synesthesia?

newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Pele is right about the taste/smell connection.... my husband had mild brain damage from epilepsy... he had lost his sense of smell and it made it hard for him to eat because it affected his sense of taste so much.... the only thing he could smell clearly was smoke, which he described as having become a tactile sensation rather than a smell.. maybe the large size of the particles...

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
pele - what's 'snarfing'?

whatever it is, it sounds fun! smile


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
You wanted more examples, I've spent several hours trying to write things in a way that would make sense to everyone. I'm still not sure is if does but I've given it my best try and simplified a lot of stuff (I could spent an entire day trying to describe what I see in a few minutes). When one of my friends talks to me I see a black sphere that changes size and shape slightly depending on what she says and colour dependent on how she's feeling. For instance if she's stressed out the sphere has a blue halo and if she's angry there is a green patch on it. All of my friends have a different shape and a different changes for what they say and how they're feeling.

When I listen to music I have an entire 'landscape' that I see with each of the instruments contributing a part to it. If I'm listening to Muse 'Fury' I see a beach made of red sand that changes colour because of the notes on the bass, the cymbals create different cloud shapes and colours that move from left to right at different speeds dependant on the decay of the cymbal. The rest of the drums make black and brown rocks that litter everything. The guitar makes a blue and purple sea that constantly shifts and changes becaues of the guitar sound. The vocals take the shape of the persons voice (in the case of Matt Bellamy a very light pink, almost white, box) that sits in the centre of it all and behaves in the way that I described above. Whats even more interesting is that every song has its own 'landscape' but even is I hear the song live I see almost exactly the same thing. All of this is overlaid on my vision so I can still see everything that anyone else sees but I have this transparent layer that gives me this other world. The only thing is it's not transparent but I can still see everything. I also can't listen to some types of music, the most notable is dance music where all of the instruments are synth instruments, as it overwhelms my senses and I have been known to pass out or throw up even when sober because of it.

I've never really cared about whether people believe me or not as I've always seen it and it is as real to me as the keyboard I'm typing on but I only really realized that I was seeing things differently in high school when I told the teacher that she was playing something wrong because the next chord was blue and not yellow and got funny looks from people. I also wrote my standard grade music piece on the colour red and was told I'd failed by the teacher only to pass with the top grade when it went for external assessment. I've also recently noticed that its directional so I can tell that someone is walking towards me from the left because their footsteps make shapes on my left hand side.

I hope this post doesn't make me seem like I should be sectioned because other the fact that I can tell how someone is feeling by how they speak to me and that I can remember everything that is said to me since I can remember I'm perfectly 'normal'. I do fit the 'criteria' for synesthesia, I'm left handed, very efeminate for a guy (I have crossdressed before and got chatted up by a guy), am bi-sexual and have a family history of both synesthesia and learning difficulties.

I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak... alright maybe I am. Hope this helps.

Xand

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
Written by: pr!m@te



Sometimes I watch the patterns on the wall covering dancing in the spotlight.






That might be. If you see the same things over and over when you listen to the same piece of music then it is, if not then I'm not sure what is is.



Written by: pr!m@te



One of my friends can write music that makes my bowels move. Is that synesthesia?






I think thats called excessive bass. :P



Written by: Spanner



I get tinnitus after seeing or physically touching certain things, so maybe.






Thats an interesting one. I've been doing a lot of research into the condition (I hate that word) and haven't come across someone who hears what they feel. I'll look into it and PM you if I find anything



Written by: Doc Lightning



Ok...suppose I see a blinking light.



I hear a "click" every time it blinks on or off. But I know I'm not actually hearing it. Similarly, someone walking behind vertical blinds makes a sound like a "ratatatatatat" except it doesn't, of course, make a sound.






I get that too. One of my friends makes a certain hand gesture that makes me hear my mum shouting at me.

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


polytheneveteran
1,359 posts
Location: London/ Surrey


Posted:
If you really see all those things with music... then you may well be a freak and I sorta wish I was too, what an amazing way to get so much more out of music! (sooo many people (not me though) have experimented with various substances hoping for even a shadow of what you've described)

The optimist claims that we are living in the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears this is true.

Always make time to play in the snow.


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
Thank you polythene. There are times when I'm spinning to music when the poi actually become part of the music and the world I see bends round the poi. I have no idea why this happens, perhaps its the way that they move or sound. Hence a lot of the time I like to keep the poi infront of me and do things like wrist wraps, leg wraps, buzzsaws, butterflys, isolations and weaves and a lot of the routines that I do to music are always the same even though I've never thought about doing a routine, I'm merely doing what comes to mind at the time.

As for the 'substances', I've dropped both 'shrooms and acid and both of those drugs took away what I saw, as did some of the anti-depressant medication I was on a while ago (which co-incedentally made me more depressed). I can't explain why but its another thing I want to find out about.

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


PeleBRONZE Member
the henna lady
6,193 posts
Location: WNY, USA


Posted:
Written by: coleman


pele - what's 'snarfing'?

whatever it is, it sounds fun! smile


cole. x




Spewing stuff you are drinking or chewing out of your nose.
It's mostly fun for spectators who are not in the line of fire.
Most funny with peas or some such.
Not at all fun with alcohol or carbonation as it *burns* wink

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK


SethisBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,762 posts
Location: York University, United Kingdom


Posted:
My sister enjoys making me snarf when I'm drinking sprite. Not funny.

Wow. How cool is it to hear colours and see sounds? Sounds kinda like a superhero ability, though not sure how much it would help fighting against the bad guys... ubbrollsmile

Ever thought (onefinalstep) that maybe you're seeing the "true" reality, rather than the one that everyone else is limited to? Like maybe you can sense slightly more than other people?

Speculation really, I don't know much about it! ubbangel

After much consideration, I find that the view is worth the asphyxiation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
I've never really thought of it like that.

*runs off to make cape*

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


IgirisujinSILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,666 posts
Location: Preston, United Kingdom


Posted:
There was a very very famouse composer who had this same thing. He saw sounds as flashing lights, different notes made him see different colours, so he could allways tell wich note was played by listening to it (couse he could see the colours lucky him!!) he spent years of his life beleiveing this was something everybody saw and he was fmously very shocked when he found out very few people had this syn thing as he did. The thing that supposidly really made him think this was perfectly normal was because at the operah he believed they dimmed the lights deliberatly so everyone saw the colours as well as the sound.

IDe love to have this it sounds fun, perhaps someday I will have a freak accident and bump my head couseing me to develop this with no other ill side affects at all, but hey whos really that lucky? lol

Chief adviser to the Pharaoh, in one very snazzy mutli-coloured coat

'Time goes by so slowly for those who wait...' - Whatever Happend To Baby Madonna?


IgirisujinSILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,666 posts
Location: Preston, United Kingdom


Posted:
[quoteEver thought (onefinalstep) that maybe you're seeing the "true" reality, rather than the one that everyone else is limited to? Like maybe you can sense slightly more than other people?





I dont have that romantic view on this condition, I'de call it brain damage haha, but dont worrie its good brain damage!

Chief adviser to the Pharaoh, in one very snazzy mutli-coloured coat

'Time goes by so slowly for those who wait...' - Whatever Happend To Baby Madonna?


Sporkyaddict
663 posts
Location: Glasgow


Posted:
If I remember correctly the composer you are thinking of is Alexander Scriabin.

Have faith in what you can do and respect for what you can't


SethisBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,762 posts
Location: York University, United Kingdom


Posted:
Not sure about romance. It's got to be incredibly lonely. Imagine being the only person able to see. The rest of the world is blind.

How depressed would you get, never to be able to describe sunsets or rainbows or trees to anyone? And no-one understands.

Sorry, wallowing in misery there, I'll stop now.

biggrin redface

After much consideration, I find that the view is worth the asphyxiation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.


MegafishBRONZE Member
lurking...
208 posts
Location: Faversham UK


Posted:
yes, indeedy i get this from time to time, i'm sure the brain chemistry is much to advvanced for any mere human to understand but indeedy, from time to time i get some pretty fance private light shows. Whether i used to have them before i took LSD is a matter for open debate, and certainly tiz true i get them after i've been smoking special stuff. but indeed i do get them, sometimes its fun, sometimes it happens whilst i'm driving car. I'm scared of calling it an acid flashback, because i'm certain that that is something quite different (again i'm not sure if i'd want that to happen whilst i was driving a car.



you are not alone, and you are not strange



:-)



pat



PS Sethis i'm envigorated by your post, how interesting, being able to see what no-else can see or hear, how lonely...



sounds to me like your talking about inspiration, the only way to share those patterns is to make them real, perhaps all the great composers of our race were all synthinasea sufferers whos only release was to make the patterns real. in which case i think most of us would be chronic sufferers as well. This brain stuff is far to crazy for my liking. Be care full not to read too much into or to take too much out of an organ as mysterious as the human brain,



remember - - -> Neural programing is ideosyncratic



what does that mean, i guess it means that you are you and there will never be anyone else like you ever again, do with that as you will



i was planning on doing something really special



I'm sure ive had this conversation with my self before whilst i was tripping :-)


EDITED_BY: Megafish (1123115261)

Juggling isn't useless, It just isn't useful.

Neural Coding is Idiosyncratic:-)

'Do you like dry cerial? Hope so because we've drunk your milk. Yours Sincerely, Your Neighbourhood Milk Thief'


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
*bump*

Anyone had any synesthetic experiences lately?

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


Gnarly CraniumSILVER Member
member
186 posts
Location: San Francisco, USA


Posted:
...Damn, but this sounds like fun!! Seriously!



It occurs to me though, that musical notes and colors are sortof different forms of the same thing. Colors that we see and specific notes that we hear-- and harmonics of them-- are determined by frequency, or wavelength-- how fast the light or the sound vibration is wiggling. It could very well be that the part of the brain that sorts out frequency stuff deals with both, and maybe combine the two if it feels like doing so. This is just me speculating off the top of my head, though.



You find that other thread, Doc? This sounds terribly interesting, I'd love to see what your take on it was!







"This garden universe vibrates complete,

Some, we get a sound so sweet.

Vibrations, reach on up to become light,

And then through gamma, out of sight.

Between the eyes and ears there lie,

The sounds of color and the light of a sigh.





And to hear the sun, what a thing to believe!

But it's all around if we could but perceive.

To know ultra-violet, infra-red, and x-rays,

Beauty to find in so many ways.





Two notes of the chord, that's our full scope,

And to reach the chord is our life's hope.

And to name the chord is important to some,

So they give it a word, and the word is.... Ohm…"




--The Moody Blues
EDITED_BY: Gnarly Cranium (1140474737)

"Ours is not to question The Head; it is enough to revel in the ubiquitous inanity of The Head, the unwanted proximity of The Head, the unrelenting HellPresence of The Head, indeed the very UNYIELDING IRRELEVANCE of The Head!" --Revelation X


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
The sound of the Metro-North commuter train going by a block away on the elevated track is this really cool fuzzy grey blob... Damn, I can't describe these things any better.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


Gnarly CraniumSILVER Member
member
186 posts
Location: San Francisco, USA


Posted:
Guess I'll take that as a no.

"Ours is not to question The Head; it is enough to revel in the ubiquitous inanity of The Head, the unwanted proximity of The Head, the unrelenting HellPresence of The Head, indeed the very UNYIELDING IRRELEVANCE of The Head!" --Revelation X


FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
Written by: OvertlyFlirtatiousSpork

...I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak, I'm not a freak... alright maybe I am. Hope this helps.




Not a "freak" - a phenomenon! hug

Some people spend fortunes on drugs to have sensations like you do... I don't wanna say I envy you, but for sure I'd have loads of fun and would hang out all the time, listening to music, wandering off in my little wonderland... biggrin

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


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