Synesthesia, the neurological phenomenon that stimulates two or more senses at the same time, has long fascinated me. Growing up, a piano teacher once used his synesthesia to try and give me some new perspective on particular pieces of music; to him, the notes we played always had a certain hue to them. Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about.
Synesthesia can manifest in lots of different forms (tastes can have shapes, words can have colors, numbers can have feelings, etc.), and the different variations contain such a range that some synesthetes aren't even aware that they're experiencing the condition.
But last night, writer Nicole Cliffe sent out a seemingly innocuous, curious tweet about synesthetes, and suddenly her replies were filled with people sharing their own intertwining senses and everyday experiences.
Grapheme-color synesthetes apply color to sounds, numbers or words.
Spatial sequence synesthetes experience days, weeks, months or years as a visual "board" of sorts.
Misophonia, in which sounds can trigger unsettling emotional or physiological reactions, is a form of syesthesia.
Ordinal-linguistic synesthetes devise a whole character around numbers.
Mirror-touch synesthetes feel sensations just through visuals or sounds.
Lexical-gustatory synesthetes can taste words...and it's not always good.
Shoutout to these synesthetes who were unknowingly welcomed to the club!
Anyone else absolutely transfixed?