Hearing Colors: What It's Like To Have Synesthesia

Trace interviews musician Kaitlyn Hova, a synesthete who can see specific colors when she hears musical notes

Synesthesia 360º VR Experience:

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TestTube Plus is built for enthusiastic science fans seeking out comprehensive conversations on the geeky topics they love. Host Trace Dominguez digs beyond the usual scope to deliver details, developments and opinions on advanced topics like AI, string theory and Mars exploration. TestTube Plus is also offered as an audio podcast on iTunes.

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[MrNisse-efby]

What's actually the strangest thing about synesthesia, is that other people think it's strange. To a synesthete, it's everyone _else_ that must have a strange experience of things. Imagine trying to explain color to someone who doesn't realize they're color blind? Then imagine how strange it would be, to realize that _everyone _*_except you_*, actually *is* color blind. ;-)

[daveann]

My condition isn't as organized. I associate song melodies with colors, but specific notes don't have a specific color. Since songs are mostly based on a certain scale of music, I usually categorize the whole song. So for example, I would say that "Here" by Alessia Cara is an orange sound with hints of red. Anyone else?

[kaitlyng]

My name is Kaitlyn too! I’m reading A Mango Shaped Space and it’s about a girl named Mia and she has synesthesia and hears colors and sees letters as colors. I really like the book and I recommend it if you want to see more of what it’s like. I know it’s kinda a children’s book but it’s really good

[TraceDominguez]

Sorry! Forgot to actually add the link!!!1 It's there now.

ISNT KAITLYN THE BEST?!

[bautijua]

This is pretty amazing. When i showed my mom the 360 VR youtube clip, first she was confused in how to use the 360 gyroscope, but secondly she was astounded, and so she wondered, maybe this mutation is what Beethoven had.

[jadepalacios]

I have had Synesthesia for like 5 hours on LSD ;)

[goldmeteora]

the 360 degree video was really awesome

[PumpkinBread]

She's so lovely and thoughtful and attentive.

[asdfgoogle]

My ex gf found out she had synesthesia when she was in school. She asked something along the lines of "why is the letter A red?"

She does some awesome paintings of songs! Very abstract and unique!

[FeliciaFollum]

Synesthesia is one of my favorite art vocab words....soooo cool! ok now I'm listening

[Dagan]

When I'd read sheet music while I was a trombonist, I could literally hear the actual song in my head almost immediately, in almost the precisely manner it would sound once mastered. They call this 'seeing sounds', or an example of 'Synesthesia'. It's probably the most interesting of the different abilities I experience - and there are many. For example, I hate mustard, so certain shades of 'yellow' will prompt me to avoid certain foods based on being able to 'taste/smell/experience a gag reflex' the mustard in relation to the color; the same is true with the particular shade of white, even the clumpy texture visually tied to mayonnaise. Another example is how the smell of food, particularly ones I'm about to try, will mean I can already 'taste' it with my nose, etc., and might also mean that I associate it immediately with something else I've eaten or smelled in the past.

I have what some call 'photographic memory'. It can be a voluntary function, but most of the time it is involuntary. And based on the 'living flow of information', the feel of the type of day and the particular social environment surrounding me; or watching the turmoil of something seemingly unconnected to me (the slightest hint at a potential 'slippery slope'), I can foresee the future consequences with stunning (on occasion, unerring) accuracy, and often when it results in someone or a nation/society/culture meeting a horrible end. It is depressing because I understand after a while that there is nothing I can do to deny the natural progression of things from playing out by trying to stop someone from doing something they'll regret, given most people will scoff at the mere mentioning of such things. I call this my 'Cassandra Effect'.

There is also my obsession with large numbers, angles and shapes, even circles, spheres, cones and cylinders, that I will mentally manipulate (like bend, mold like clay) to break apart in order to 'cut against the grain' like a Rubik's cube with respect to my artwork, or how I might fashion a new poem or essay, and will even influence the articles I write. Numbers, in numerous ways, can go into all sorts of directions, in ways you can't even imagine. This is particularly the case when I listen to a single song dozens of times on repeat for several days, in which I transform the entire song into a bluish-purple sphere that I mentally 'peel apart' like an orange or onion that appears dark and 'metallic', then 'bend' into different angles or direction that are 'open' in order to see the different options available to me when determining how a poem might be structured. In my mind, I feel like I am tearing down the natural order into the lowest common denominator(s) of what it is I'm focusing on, in order to rebuild it in the discipline and structure that will serve me. These are often so complex that it is structurally impossible for me to find the dimensions needed on a sheet of paper to illustrate what exactly these might look like.

For a long time, I thought this was a normal thing. Apparently, it is not, not even for accomplished professional musicians. And if Myers-Briggs has any significance here, I am also an INTJ. Go figure that one out.

[martintroy]

Just watched the video! My god Kaitlyn you are blessed to have this amazingly beautiful skill! I cried. Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with us.

[TSCTH]

I have proprioception-photoception synesthetia, which allows me to see my own body even in pitch black darkness.
And just like her, I didn't think anything of it until I learned it was a form of synesthetia. Though, it never gave me any advantages, besides an improved sense of spacial awareness in darkness.

[MaddyBee]

Being anaphylactic I have found that describing symptoms and what's happening using colours is a good way to get a point across.

[bitUnity]

No its not there .. please put the link in i really want to see that :D

[ashmckinlay]

I love the idea of synaesthesia class for children! what a gift to learn. maybe include it in arts/ music.

[caramelzip]

I've been watching a series of documentary things about the brain and one episode was about decision making. Me and my dad both have synesthesia and we started talking about how we have another factor of decision making: the colours of things. For example, if I am asked whether I would like to have £6 or £7 I would choose £6 because I prefer the colour. It's interesting.

[briankayaker]

I would be very interested hear someone talk about synesthesia who has it and has also tripped on psychedelic drugs like LSD or magic mushrooms. People who have used psychedelic drugs claim they experienced synesthesia while tripping and I'd like to know if it's the same experience, just intensified?

[MariusBon]

"Hearing Colors" or "Seeing sounds"?

[Phoenix-pbsm]

I hope we can somehow make people have this in the near future