Color and Sound, two of the most important aspects of our life, and yet rarely do we stop to really think about them, and realize that in fact, they are directly related to one another.
Synaesthesia is the mixing of the senses. Those affected by it hear colors, see sounds, and taste tactile sensations. When the two senses involved are sound and color, this phenomenon is no longer limited to synaesthetes: anyone, given a sound and time for contemplation, can ascribe color to that sound. Oftentimes, these choices will overlap from person to person.
Synaesthesia is a joining together of sensations that are normally experienced separately. Some synaesthetes experience colours when they hear or read words, whilst others may experience tastes, smells, shapes or touches in almost any combination. The sensations are automatic and cannot be turned on or off. People are generally born with it and it runs in families. It is not considered to be harmful in any way. Most synaesthetes could not imagine life without these extra sensations!
In real language that means that there is a crossing of the senses. Having one sense stimulated would cause a stimulation in another sense as well. This would be like a ringing bell being heard and seen(maybe as a flash of light).
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES
There are five main diagnostic features of synesthesia, as defined by Cytowic:
- the sensations are involuntary: they can not be surpressed or incurred, though the intensity is influenced by the situation they occur in
- the sensations are projected into the environment: it is not just in the head but the person actually sees a sound or hears a picture, etc.
- the sensations are durable and generic: every time you hear a bell you always see red, it doesn't change over time or situation and will always be experienced with the stimulus
- the sensations are memorable: they are often the aspect of something that is remembered best. For example it may be easier to remember that a person's name is yellow than the name, although the color helps to recall the name
- the sensations are emotional: having this experience causes ecstasy and is viewed as an accomplishment
WHO HAS IT???
Incidence:
- one in every 25,000 people born have synesthesia, but this estimate is thought to be low
Women:
- studies done in the United States show that three times as many women as men have synesthesia
- Studies from UK reveal that eight times as many women as men are affected
Lefties:
- it appears more frequently among left-handed people
Synaesthesia is the crossing over of 2 or more senses and there can be 31 possibilities of different combinations of senses. But clinically, it is usually only 2 senses that cross and this knocks it down to a potential 20 different pairings. Usually the pairing is unidirectional e.g. sound evokes colour, but colour does not evoke sound.
Here is a story about a man who experineces 4 senses together:
http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/synesthesia/living.html
Here is a site with how Sean Day sees musical instruments:
http://home.comcast.net/~sean.day/sean-music.htm
and food
http://home.comcast.net/%7Esean.day/sean-foods.htm#beverages
Here is an image with colors for different letters:
Here is a link to a site where you can try to determine what color is a sound or song for yourself:
http://www.concretethestudio.com/colorofsound
