Synesthesia

[SomethingUnrelated]

I recently read up a bit on this, and it's really interesting. If you have synesthesia, you tend to relate one sense to another. For example, you hear something (a number), and you have a sort of visual sensation (colour). To make it even simpler, you hear the number "4", and think of brown.

It's reckoned that 1 in 23 people experience this phenomenon, and more people experience it on a lesser level. If you're still having trouble understainding the concept, look it up on Wikipedia.

So my question is this. Does anyone here experience Synesthesia, and if so, by what means?

Personally, I don't really.

 

[syndicated44]

I ate frog legs once and thought they tasted like green.

 

[WrongSprite]

I don't believe I have it. Although it sounds difficult to know if you do or not, if you had it all your life.

 

[Aunel]

I don't think so

sorry, worst pun today.

 

[Oneirius]

Personally, no I don't have. I have a friend who smells colors, thaugh. Orange is quite unpleasent, apperantly.

 

[Abedeus]

It's a mental disabili... Well, not a disability... Anomality, that's a better word. You can't get it in other way than getting born with it.

I don't believe I have it. Although it sounds difficult to know if you do or not, if you had it all your life.

Why? If you remember someone's voice by a color, then you know you've got it.

Also this enhances your memory, since colors are easier to remember (even if you dont know how they're called) than events in life. Some guy with synesthesia had a memory so good, he remembered everything since he was 1 year old.

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

It's a mental disabili... Well, not a disability... Anomality, that's a better word.

Is anomaly the word you're looking for?

 

[Mozared]

There's a character in Heroes who has this as an ability; she can see sound in the form of coloured waves. That might explain the concept to those who don't get it.

I can't really say I have it, but for a little bit. I think most of us have those moments where we think something tastes exactly like it's colour, or somebody's personality is exactly as his/her looks describe.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

I do quite often, but it's not the complete mix up of senses that true synaesthesia manifests as. For example, I get flavours associated with a noise or colour, and a colour in my head when I hear certain noises. It's not a very long list of things that mix up, but it's still weird when I'm eating something that smells like a sound..if you get me.

 

[Lord George]

I get something strange with music where every different note and vocal change has a certain feeling and sensation, its pretty hard to explain but it means I can remember any song I hear so its all good.

 

[Disaster Button]

I've always wondered why I did this.

A lot of times I associate people, food, experiences, music with colours. Like when I think of my best mate I think of red.

Sometimes I even bring it up in conversation like "Hey this song really makes me think of yellow." I get very confused looks. And now I know why!

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

It's a mental disabili... Well, not a disability... Anomality, that's a better word.

Is anomaly the word you're looking for?

Or abnormality.

I find that many things taste like purple.

 

[Rhatar Khurin]

To make it even simpler, you hear the number "4", and think of brown.

I think of brown when i hear number 2

 

[ZeroMachine]

I don't think that example you gave is synethesia... might be mistaken, but from what I understand, it's more like "I can smell red!" Seeing a number and thinking a color to go along with it is common even without synethesia.

Basically, the disorder is when you can "see sounds" or "smell and taste colors". "Jumbled senses" are another way to put it (that I just made up!)

Yeah, I've done a little research on this in my spare time.

EDIT:

To make it even simpler, you hear the number "4", and think of brown.

I think of brown when i hear number 2

Disgusting, yet funny XD

Oh, poop jokes.

 

[Veret]

I hear sounds as sounds most of the time, but whenever I try to describe a specific tone or timbre I see a very definite shape in my head. I once drew my friend a picture of what his guitar tone "looks" like to me, which resulted in no small amount of confusion.

 

[Abedeus]

It's a mental disabili... Well, not a disability... Anomality, that's a better word.

Is anomaly the word you're looking for?

...Shut up.

Yeah, I blame the similarity between some words in Polish, English and Spanish. Come to think of it, anomality sounds stupid. Like a cross between anomaly and anonymity.

 

[Firenz]

Synesthesia is a well know effect of some recreational drugs. Ketamine for example, if too much is taken, can produce synesthesia as well as the feeling of being at one state removed from the body (both know symptoms of someone experiencing a "K Hole")

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

I identify sound with colors. A soft sound is blue, a mild sound is green, a less mild sound is orange, and an extremely unpleasant sound is red. If I hear a loud grinding and close my eyes, I will see red... If I am listening to low white noise I will see blue...

 

[DigitalSushi]

I identify sound with colors. A soft sound is blue, a mild sound is green, a less mild sound is orange, and an extremely unpleasant sound is red. If I hear a loud grinding and close my eyes, I will see red... If I am listening to low white noise I will see blue...

That is so cool.

One of the big composers had Synesthesia, I can't remember which one though sorry!, but he used to instruct his orchestra "No it needs to be more blue" and such things.

Hold on, heres a clip of QI to explain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqQIL4nuB-g

Its almost 4 minutes long but it has Stephen Fry, our lord and master.

 

[Skeleon]

Never experienced it myself but heard a bunch of reports about it.
Sounds very... confusing, especially if it happens to you anew, i.e. you weren't born with it.
I also heard that some drugs may induce synethesia... hm.