Hearing Red: Taking A Look Into Synesthesia

Imagine listening to a song on the radio and seeing colors, or feeling the taste of chocolate cake in your mouth as someone says your name. For most of us, this seems impossible. Our senses usually tend to operate on different tracks, never really crossing. However, some people (approximately 2-4% of the population) experience synesthesia a neurological phenomenon where they may perceive certain senses together, like taste and color or touch and sound.

The name "synesthesia" is derived from Greek and means to perceive together. "Synth" means together and "ethesia" means perception. Understanding synesthesia requires a basic understanding of how senses work. Each of our senses stimulates a different part of our brain. For example, hearing is controlled by the temporal lobe and vision by the occipital lobe. However, with sound-to-color synesthesia, for example, both your occipital and temporal lobes will be stimulated. This is what leads to the blending of the senses and experiencing sounds and seeing colors when you hear a sound.

According to the New York Times, composer Oliver Messiain said of synesthesia “'When I hear music, I see inwardly, in the mind's eye, colors which move with the music. This is not imagination, nor is it a psychic phenomenon. It is an inward reality.'” Synesthesia is not simply imagined up by synesthetes. They can’t control their synesthesia and most of them have been born with it or had it very early on in their childhood. Research also suggests that synesthesia can be inherited genetically.

So far, there hasn’t been any treatment for synesthesia. Synesthesia isn’t generally perceived as a disorder and doesn’t interfere with people’s lives so there isn’t much reason for treatment. However, although many synesthetes have said they enjoy having synesthesia, it can also be disruptive. Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen said to The New York Times that one woman “not only saw colors when she heard sounds but heard sounds whenever she saw colors. ‘For her, it was very unpleasant, and her reaction was to try to control the environment and keep everything very low-key,' he said.” According to the American Psychological Association, “Often, people with synesthesia describe having been driven to silence after being derided in childhood for describing sensory connections that they had not realized were atypical.”

Synesthesia is a difficult thing to describe. And for us non-synesthetes, we will likely never really know what it’s like to experience synesthesia. The closest thing that I can imagine is perhaps eating. When we eat, we experience both touch and taste. While it is nowhere near what people with synesthesia might experience, it does provide some clarity on how synesthesia might work. Certain drugs like LSD, alcohol, and even caffeine have been shown to cause synesthesia temporarily. However, using these drugs can have disastrous long-term effects on your health and is not recommended. If you would like a safe understanding of how synesthesia might work, then I would suggest checking out this video on YouTube. It describes sound-to-color synesthesia and is highly informational while providing a unique experience for non-synesthetes.