Synesthesia. If you aren't capable then skip this post.

[OldAirmail]

Really. Skip it. If you don't has this ability the rest of this post will be like describing the setting sun to a blind man. Incomprehensible and pointless.


We all think that everyone sees and hears the world as we do.

Not necessarily.

Of course we know that some are deaf, blind, or even just color blind.

But for the most part we think that we all experience certain things in the same way.


Enter Synesthesia.

"Synesthesia... is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."

EXAMPLES
"In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia or color-graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored."

"In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may appear as a three-dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise)."

"Only a fraction of types of synesthesia have been evaluated by scientific research."


Does this sound familiar to anyone, or am I the only one here who experienced life a little differently?

"Some synesthetes often report that they were unaware their experiences were unusual until they realized other people did not have them,..."

To me, musical notes have a special position. Some are near. Some are far. And others are still farther away. Some to the left and up. Some to the right and in the middle.

It's more than pitch or volume, musical notes fill a 3D volume in front of me.

Oh, it doesn't detract from enjoying music at all, it just adds an extra dimension to music.

[Apex]

I don't seem to have synesthesia, first time I've even heard that term, but I find this rather interesting, esp the part re: music, since I am a musician, and I mulled over that part very carefully. I perceive music as pitch and texture, that is, Hendrix has a texture different from Bach, for ex. Hearing music as a "3D volume", as you say, might kinda be like the rest of us listening to and knowing it's in stereo. Stereo places what we hear in space - mainly left, right, but also somewhat near and far, however, your description is a bit different from that as it seems you hear it in a more tangible aspect of near, far, left, right to give it a more or maybe actual 3D perception.

So even if we do not have this "ability", I found this worthy of reading. Always learning more, any way we can.

[Hawkeye07]

OAM, I'm in the same boat as Apex. I find this quite interesting. Could you explain this music perception a bit more?
"To me, musical notes have a special position. Some are near. Some are far. And others are still farther away. Some to the left and up. Some to the right and in the middle."

Do you experience this only in certain situations such as at a live concert or sitting at home listening to the radio? Do other sounds such as "White Noise" interfere?

[FlexibleFlier]

I hadnt' heard the term but it makes sense to me. I knew a professional musician a number of years ago who told me that he sees music as colors, which essentially means an infinite variety that he could play. He said it also helped explain how he could be so facile on his guitar and learn quickly. I understood him but didn't quite "get it" until this post. So, thanks!

[Jean Loup]

FUNNY, I never thoutht I also had SYNESTHESiA but not surprised. I have Autism & Dislexia. Dislexia is what allows me to be a mechanic at close quarters, sometimes one looks at FEELS bolts with the left hand, sometimes with the right hand, either dismounting or mounting something. Also allows me to read others papers on the table, seating oposite to me. Also allows me ro see the path in the jungle at night, going barefooted of course. Autism is a real blessing: when something is not interesting, I just ignore it & do my own thing even if it disturbed others. Allows me to comunicate with other animals & plants (or maybe I am absolutly NUTS, but keeps me happy anyway).

SYNESTHESiA could explain why when I use color (I paint but not a musician) I hear sounds moving in space. Maybe you heard of Vasili Kandinski, he painted Simphonies & started what now iGNORANT PAiNT DEALERS call "Abstract".

This drawing (click it for other doodles of Puerto Escondido) I did to imprint the STORM & WiND HOWLiNG sounds assaulting that shrimp boat, allowing it's motor to cool off while being dragged to shore, and starting it just when about to smash the beach in front of us, then going away into deep waters until the engine overheated again and had to be shutted down. After THREE DAYS of navigating like this, the storm was over & the shrimp boat whent TUK-TUK into the seas at Sunset, to fill the gallows with shrimp. WE SALUTED THAT CAPTAiN standing on the beach, until the Sun swallowed the boat. No, I did not study drawing nor paint, just started doodling everything (like walls to mami's dismay) since I can remember & my first couple was a painter. She said "if you can draw like that, here are acrilic color tubes: red, blue, yellow, black & white" & I started drawing with paint & brush or spatula over canvas (for 4 years), until I entered the VW company. Now I paint with words
Yes, I go barefooted most of time. In the city I use sandals made with old truck tyres, shoes NEVER NEVER!!

[OldAirmail]

Interesting, as always, Jean. You brighten this site.



When I say "ability", think of it as able, not special.

You are "able" to see a sunset. That does not make you special.

A blind man certainly wouldn't think of you as special either. Just "able", in that one aspect.

And so people with synesthesia are able to experience some things in a way that most can not.

If your friend, who is color blind, were to point to your bright blue car and say that it was a very nice green color, you would understand that he sees it as green even though you aren't able see the "green" that he does, imagination notwithstanding.



When we think of a river or an ocean, we associate the color blue with those images. Maybe green for some people.

Now try to understand the person with synesthesia who associates the number 5 with blue, and the number 6 with orange. The number 7 with a deep, dark, brown, and 8 with a light and very bright yellow.

At this point you may say "Oooookkkaaayyy, I guess I can, ummm... understand that. If you say so. Maybe."

But it'd be an understanding of something that "could be", but not something that you'll ever see yourself.

And colors is just one of the many ways that some people experience synesthesia.


My synesthesia is like one of the examples in the first post - "In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may appear as a three-dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise)."

Because I've lived with it all my life, it seems perfectly normal to me. In fact, the only time I can really "see" the separate notes floating in the area before me is if I close my eyes and watch them.

BTW - this is something separate from stereo or a quadrophonic setup. When listening to only one channel (left or right), the individual notes are still distributed in the cloud of notes in front of me.

In so far as quadrophonic music is concerned, I hear the sounds that are coming from behind me, BUT I see those notes in front of me.

I think that the best way to describe it is to have you think of the "notes" as the objects being juggled amongst five or six jugglers. Now take a picture of the juggled items.

There you have it. The same notes will always, as best as I can tell, appear in the same special location. Some near, some far, some close, some off the side.

As far as I can tell the volume, or pitch, of the note has no play in it's spatial position.



Any benefits? None that I've noticed.

Jean and I both have Dyslexia, and I think that he'll agree with me - Dyslexia does have one sure benefit - humor. I see things on signs and billboards that make me laugh because I know that NO ONE would post what I see!

[Jean Loup]

Interesting, as always, Jean. You brighten this site. ....
...Jean and I both have Dyslexia, and I think that he'll agree with me - Dyslexia does have one sure benefit - humor. I see things on signs and billboards that make me laugh because I know that NO ONE would post what I see!

THAT'S SO TRUE!! But the poor people that live around me somemosttimes resent it, they see me as cinical, mocking & irreverent (additionally I was born under a CAPRiCORN star... )

Very interesting OldAirmail, this Synesthesia exploration, never heard before. But I like!! Seems to me like quite a gift from mother Nature.