• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

So that "I can see sounds" thing has a name?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Oh yeah. Letters and numbers have colors and even flavors for me. Apparently my mother has this same "affliction". Didn't find out until we were discussing our OCD details a couple years ago.

Fascinating subject.
 
The Technomancer said:
So I've always been curious. Most songs I hear generate very strong sensations of color and color combinations for me. Its not nearly anything as visual as most synesthesia is supposed to be, but does that happen to anyone else?
Click to expand...

I experience something similar, but it's mostly that I associate a "texture" with everything. Some songs are a fluffy texture (but like a ghostly oil painting), or a sharp texture, or a smooth one. Numbers and words can be the same but not always. More of a feeling though than an actual vision.
 
blame space said:
yeah i bet you tasted wood before Correctomundo
Click to expand...

cm-39268-050cb463153f8a.jpeg



Atsumi said:
I experience something similar, but it's mostly that I associate a "texture" with everything. Some songs are a fluffy texture (but like a ghostly oil painting), or a sharp texture, or a smooth one. Numbers and words can be the same but not always. More of a feeling though than an actual vision.
Click to expand...

This happens, but only a little bit. For example, I was just listening to The Gloaming by Radiohead. It's a thick, yet soft (almost milkshake consistency) song that is whitish grey with yellow striping in color. Before that was Hold On Loosely by .38 Special. It's a blueish song, very hard and solid, and smells like rain.
 
Orayn said:
When I'm trying to fall asleep, loud noises tend to make me see black and white stripes or a checkerboard pattern. Not sure if that's real synesthesia or some other phenomenon, but it's pretty neat.
Click to expand...

There is a name for this. I remember my psych friend talking about it after he learned about it in class.
 
Correctomundo said:
cm-39268-050cb463153f8a.jpeg





This happens, but only a little bit. For example, I was just listening to The Gloaming by Radiohead. It's a thick, yet soft (almost milkshake consistency) song that is whitish grey with yellow striping in color. Before that was Hold On Loosely by .38 Special. It's a blueish song, very hard and solid, and smells like rain.
Click to expand...

I always imagined a sky blue for Hold on Loosely too. Barracuda by heart is orange-red. This only happens to a few things though, not everything so I'm assuming some association when I first heard them has to do with it rather than synthsjakdsasdxia.
 
Really there is no limit to what can be classified as synesthesia. And blame, it really is a real thing, not a 'crazy thing'. I see color and shape with music, which is incredibly useless but whatever. It's not even a 'cool' thing to me, since I've seen it that way forever.
 
Fiction said:
Really there is no limit to what can be classified as synesthesia. And blame, it really is a real thing, not a 'crazy thing'. I see color and shape with music, which is incredibly useless but whatever. It's not even a 'cool' thing to me, since I've seen it that way forever.
Click to expand...

My psych professor's face lit up like a little boy at christmas when i told him about your synesthesia. We were on that chapter in our lectures BTW not just a random thing. Everyone else thinks your cool Fiction :) :P
 
Featheredkitten said:
My psych professor's face lit up like a little boy at christmas when i told him about your synesthesia. We were on that chapter in our lectures BTW not just a random thing. Everyone else thinks your cool Fiction :) :P
Click to expand...

Ha, I would love to talk about it with a psych professor. Actually, I want to learn to draw so I can 'paint' songs. You artists are freakin' amazing. I had a dream the other night that I painted Into the Ocean, and it was SO PRETTY with its golds and reds and square dna structure thingy and sparkly silver fireworky thingys...

I wish I could I draw. :(
 
Fiction said:
Ha, I would love to talk about it with a psych professor. Actually, I want to learn to draw so I can 'paint' songs. You artists are freakin' amazing. I had a dream the other night that I painted Into the Ocean, and it was SO PRETTY with its golds and reds and square dna structure thingy and sparkly silver fireworky thingys...

I wish I could I draw. :(
Click to expand...

So it's like a mental Windows Media Player visualizer? That's awesome.

I read about synesthesia a while back but never grasped the concept. I still can't comprehend it.
 
hm, i dont see sound, but when i was younger i used to associate emotions with words that really didn't have any association.

for example, i'd see a street name and think "that street is mean" and i'd see another street name and think "that street is a nice street"
 
Fiction said:
Ha, I would love to talk about it with a psych professor. Actually, I want to learn to draw so I can 'paint' songs. You artists are freakin' amazing. I had a dream the other night that I painted Into the Ocean, and it was SO PRETTY with its golds and reds and square dna structure thingy and sparkly silver fireworky thingys...

I wish I could I draw. :(
Click to expand...

just takes practice Sis.
 
davepoobond said:
hm, i dont see sound, but when i was younger i used to associate emotions with words that really didn't have any association.

for example, i'd see a street name and think "that street is mean" and i'd see another street name and think "that street is a nice street"
Click to expand...

Personality is a recognized synesthesia. I don't have that, though.
 
davepoobond said:
hm, i dont see sound, but when i was younger i used to associate emotions with words that really didn't have any association.

for example, i'd see a street name and think "that street is mean" and i'd see another street name and think "that street is a nice street"
Click to expand...

Yep, I believe that is called personification. More common with numbers and days of the week/months have personalities, but I don't see why words wouldn't either.

Featheredkitten said:
just takes practice Sis.
Click to expand...

And innate talent, right? :p

Maybe I'll start doodling at bit. Or something.
 
Correctomundo said:
Cinnamon gum. Just like 9 itself.
Click to expand...
So, is that hearing it or seeing it written down, or just thinking it (so either would apply)? I'm genuinely fascinated, if you don't mind us (me) picking your brain. I also wonder whether people with the same condition experience them in the same way. I doubt it, but again... very curious.
 
I can see music and color especially to the point where some songs get too intense. It developed over the last couple of years. It's amazing but overwhelming. When I hear a song I hear colors.
 
Shaneus said:
So, is that hearing it or seeing it written down, or just thinking it (so either would apply)? I'm genuinely fascinated, if you don't mind us (me) picking your brain. I also wonder whether people with the same condition experience them in the same way. I doubt it, but again... very curious.
Click to expand...

They don't.

For the taste based ones, there is a lot of research that shows that tastes that weren't introduced in child-hood will never be stimulated; like if you'd never tasted curry until you were 25, you will never experience that taste with regard to synesthesia.

And for my person one, which is sound-->color, there isn't a ton of consensus other than 'higher notes=lighter colors, lower notes=darker colors'. For me, even instruments have whole separate color schemes; violin and other bow/string instruments come in shades of red, cymbals and such are metallic colors; etc.

mooooose said:
I can see music and color especially to the point where some songs get too intense. It developed over the last couple of years. It's amazing but overwhelming. When I hear a song I hear colors.
Click to expand...

Dubstep tends to make me headachey and overwhelmed, I know that feel.
 
I thought this was common and tried to explain it to my friend and he explained he can "imagine" the words in his head and the singer singing them and moving their mouth. I tried to explain that's not what I feel or see but I couldn't.

It's hard to explain what I see and feel.
 
Have any of the people with synesthesia in this thread ever taken drugs? I'm curious if being in diferent states would have an effect on your associations. Even booze would do!
 
mooooose said:
I thought this was common and tried to explain it to my friend and he explained he can "imagine" the words in his head and the singer singing them and moving their mouth. I tried to explain that's not what I feel or see but I couldn't.

It's hard to explain what I see and feel.
Click to expand...

I thought it was perfectly normal until I described a song in my late teens using shape and color words and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Then I kept it to myself, cause I thought I would be thrown in the looney bin lol.

Poimandres said:
Have any of the people with synesthesia in this thread ever taken drugs? I'm curious if being in diferent states would have an effect on your associations. Even booze would do!
Click to expand...

I haven't. Did very small amounts of pot in my teens, and I've actually never been drunk.
 
Orayn said:
When I'm trying to fall asleep, loud noises tend to make me see black and white stripes or a checkerboard pattern. Not sure if that's real synesthesia or some other phenomenon, but it's pretty neat.

Also, the months of the year have a very distinct spatial arrangement in my head.

EDIT:
ibuVFn8ePcEz9E.png


July is probably such a high point because it's during Summer vacation and also the month of my birthday. :P
Click to expand...

Someone else who has this!!! Wow. When I was in the second grade and had to learn all the months my brain built a map like this. Mine looks like a J.
 
plasmasd said:
Someone else who has this!!! Wow. When I was in the second grade and had to learn all the months my brain built a map like this. Mine looks like a J.
Click to expand...

Spatial Sequence Synesthesia
A special form of the condition, in which people tend to see all numerical sequences they come across as points in space. For instance, the number 1 might be farther away and the number 2 might be closer. A new study shows that those with SSS have superior memories. They were able to recall past events and memories far better, and in far greater detail than those without the condition.
Click to expand...

And the words-->taste one has it's own wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical-gustatory_synesthesia
 
Does anyone reflect on periods of time in their life with smells? I think that one is common because I read that smell is one of the strongest and most memorable of all the senses but whenever someone tells me a time period I instantly think of the smell in 80 to 90% of cases.
 
Sounds interesting.

I've always wondered if I'm the only one who associate certain websites with real-life locations. Like... I always kind of imagine the conversations here happening with the background of an irl place.

...Doubt there's a name for it and it probably seems weird, but hey.
 
monthmap_zps5cc0b7ed.jpg


I didn't even know this was a thing until today. But this stupid map has been in my head since I was at least 8 and it wont leave me.
 
That spacial sequence synesthesia stuff is interesting, especially the way it links in with memory.

A very powerful technique for improving memory is attributing a "personality" to whatever you are remembering. Each number might be a different object that you visualize, for example: http://www.musicianshypnosis.com/htbt/memory-article.html

It seems like people with synesthesia already have associations built up, which could help with memory.

A question for you guys is do the associations work both ways? A number might be a certain colour for you, but does thinking/seeing the colour bring the number to mind as well?
 
Kitsunebaby said:
If it's someone I know well, I usually have no problem. But with acquaintances I often forget their faces without some unique feature to remember them by.

Also, when people change their hair/makeup. I'm friends with a number of other cosplayers that I tend to only see at conventions, and sometimes I'll ask someone their name when I've known them for years because they're wearing a different wig/pair of contacts that I'm not used to. It can get a bit embarrassing.



I get this, but sometimes instead of just color it'll be shapes or scenery.
Click to expand...
I'm great with faces. I can recognize old high school classmates that I barely knew when I see them randomly. I also recently recognized an actor from a movie where he was 10 years younger as a teenager.

However when it comes to names? I'm terrible. If I say, meet someone at a party, I'll forget their names 10 seconds after being introduced to them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Frequent Fliers, what's the most annoying thing someone has done on a plane you've flown on?
2
52
102
Mr1999 replied
  • Locked
Can we has back our Iran thread?
2 3
100
760
LearnandBurn replied
  • Poll
We can now change our Gmail account name
News 
7
310
vindafarna replied
Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) Name in Blood acoustic
0
76
Ocean Dweller replied
beets are the worst thing I ever tried
Opinion  2
58
832
Days like these... replied
Top Bottom