Do you have any synesthetic experiences?

  • Do you have any form of Synesthesia? 32

    1. Grapheme-Colors - for me letters, numbers or words are colored (14) 44%
    2. Spatial sequence - for me numbers, dates or time appear like on a map or in a 3d image (14) 44%
    3. Chromesthesia - music and sound to me have colors (11) 34%
    4. Auditory-tactile - sound is something I feel on my body like physical contact (11) 34%
    5. Misophonia - Sounds can cause me to have strong emotions (19) 59%
    6. Mirror-touch - When I see somebody else gets a pat on the back I can feel it on my own back (6) 19%
    7. Lexical-gustatory - I can taste the words in my mouth (5) 16%

    To make things easy, I used the English language Wikipedia article on Synesthesia as a reference for the terminology. Also, anyone not fluent in English or otherwise unfamiliar with wording can switch to the German language Wikipedia article on Synesthesia .

    I put up a poll, just to see where people are roughly coming from. Since technical terms can be confusing I put some plain English descriptions in there. If you've got more than one, pick any one you prefer. Let me know in a comment if you can think of others.

    So, to start with my humble self, I experience grapheme-colors, spatial sequence and chromesthesia.

    For example R is blood red, Februrary is moss green, my left hand is light green, the number 5 is navy blue, Saturday is orange.
    Time is something I visualize as a very long ruler, that can be stretched and sequeezed.
    One singer I like has an orange voice.

    Now the funny thing I noticed, and this is a bit different to synesthesiacs I've met, is that for me the sensation isn't overwhelmingly strong. In fact if I try to actively go through the months of the year I can't see clearly what the colors are, however next time I encounter the name of a month it may be in its specific color. For lack of a better understanding I tend to think colors show up in my memory. In addition to that it's not omnipresent, I don't sense a color for every voice I observe.

    Labels are for tins, not people.

    4 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Pfeffermünz (8. Februar 2015 um 18:53)

  • I remember my fascination and excitement on realising that words are linked to colors, faces or abstract symbols and emotions back in my childhood. "West" (cardinal point) for example was yellow and resembled sort of a smiley (emoticon; not yet existing then) which made me feel somehow suspicious towards it. "East" was blue and had a sad expression. There was much more I don't remember any longer.

    Sound has colors, shapes and movements (directions), and listening to music can also be a visual experience to me.
    Sounds also feels like touches to my skin or places inside my body.

    It has been thrilling to talk with other people about the different ways of perceiving, sensing and experiencing the world, especially as these were rare occasions. As a child I took it for granted that every human feels and perceives as I do (not only regarding synesthetic phenomena), as all children would do, I think. By and by I learnt that this is definitely not the case. (I am NA but in some regards perceive and react differently compared to the average/norm).

    Nowadays I am less aware of these perceptions, I don't question them any more, they are naturally integrated into my informational system, my overall perception of my surrounding (or my self).

    I picked chromesthesia, auditory-tactile and misophonia. Not grapheme-colors, as I am barely conscious of it any longer.

  • Ich antworte mal in Deutsch. Das fällt mir leichter...
    Vor ein paar Monaten konnte man online an einer umfangreicheren Studie zum Thema teilnehmen (die hier im Forum verlinkt war). Ich meine mich erinnern zu können das es eine Niederländische Studie war (?). Mich hat die Befragung so sehr geärgert das ich den Vorgang abgebrochen habe. Der verwendete Begriff der Synästhesie war so konkret festgelegt, das für meine Antworten nirgens Raum war.
    Unter einigen anderen Dingen sind für mich Zahlen, Buchstaben,... unter anderem mit Farben verknüpft. Nur gibt es keine einfache Zuordnung. Ein Buchstabe verändert mit seiner Existenz in einem Wort, abhängig vom Wort selbst, eventuell seine Farbe. Selbst das alleinstehende "A" kann, abhängig von seiner Umgebung, seine Farbe verändern. Konkretes Beispiel: das "A" im Alphabet ist immer rot. Das "A" im Wort Ananas ist immer grün. Die beiden nachfolgenden "a" im Wort Ananas sind gelb und grün.
    Das gleiche und ähnliches gilt für viele andere Dinge.

    Vergesst nicht das Wichtige...

  • Hi Helsing,

    drei Punkte haben mich veranlasst, hierzu etwas zu schreiben:

    das Thema finde ich interessant bzw. hatte mich früher beschäftigt, ich wollte mal wieder Englisch üben, und ich fand es schade, dass noch niemand geantwortet hatte. Abgestimmt haben offenbar doch einige.

    Ja, es gibt viele Fragebögen zu vielen Themen, in denen keine passende Antwort vorgegeben ist. Dann ist es schön, wenn ein Punkt "Anderes" vorgesehen ist mit der Möglichkeit, in eigenen Worten zum Thema beizutragen. Alles andere empfinde ich als Zwang, mich in der am nächsten liegenden "Schublade" einsortieren zu müssen, was mir auch das Gefühl gibt, dass nicht wirklich nachgeforscht wird, sondern nur vorgefasste Hypothesen bestätigt werden sollen. Oder es gibt mir das Gefühl, nicht wirklich von dem Thema "betroffen" zu sein, und sowieso nicht "dazuzugehören".

    Interessant, das mit den relativen Farben bei Dir!

    Auf deutsch gibt es offenbar noch keinen Thread zu Synästhesien, da habe ich schon gesucht. Selbst einen Thread eröffnen möchte ich nicht, dafür ist mein Interesse nicht mehr groß genug, alles schon abgehakt quasi. Ich weiß nur, wie wichtig es mir war, mich über bestimmte, mich selbst betreffende Themen mit anderen austauschen zu können, als eine Erfahrung oder Erkenntnis noch neu für mich war und ich keine Ansprechpartner dafür in meiner RL-Umgebung finden konnte. Das war immer sehr erleichternd, nicht so allein mit den eigenen Sinneseindrücken dazustehen und mich darüber mit anderen austauschen zu können.

    Deswegen finde ich es wichtig, Themen anzusprechen; manche (vielleicht auch nur ganz wenige, aber das ist egal) sind froh darüber.

  • Yeah, well. The fact that this synesthesia thing is often described in very limited terms is also an issue for me. As Helsing described I too sense things as way more complex and 'in flow' than it is often described.

    My personal sensoric input that is linked with sensations from a sense it shouldn't be is perceived are as followed:

    Music/sounds have colours. As a child I thought that was normal, that a G on my flute was brown and an A was red. Some musical pieces can leave me kind of 'high' because of the intense mental delight/enjoyment they cause. Words can have colours and shapes but not because of the letters but because of the quality and form of the noise they make when someone says them, which also means voices can have a form or colour and the voice of the speaker can have an effect on the colour of the words.

    Feelings and sensations like panic or that I'm about to puke are accompanied by forms, colours, surface characters/finishes I feel within me. They often stun me a bit because they can be quite vivid.

    Sometimes the synestetic perception is noticed by me even before I sense the feeling, which sometimes helps me to deal with recognising those I can't sort out. That can be helpful, this is quite vague though because there are so many forms and colours it is a mess.
    Sounds and especially music causes very intense emotions, somtimes make me resolve into tears without a clue why or what is happening to me.

    Smells, sounds, feelings and other perceptions can cause the feeling of textures or forms in my mouth. To my amazement I found something that describes these feelings very well.
    https://www.dezeen.com/2012/11/18/tab…y-jinhyun-jeon/
    If you imagine having those in your mouth you might surmise what it feels like for me.

    Early in life I learned that experiencing this is labelled as 'odd' or 'abnormal' to use kind words. I soon learned to hide (back then I had no word for it) 'it' was making life easier. After over 30 years of trying to deny that this is there, I finally start to deal with experiencing it (maybe sometimes even enjoying it), although I almost never talk about it.
    It is part of my daily life and nowadays I use it, though it also confuses me, but I don't know what life would be like without it, therefore I don't want to miss it.

    I recently bought a book by Richard E. Cytowic but I haven't had the time to read it yet. There are way better english resources online than that Wikipedia article, but I guess since your post is a few years old you probably have read more in the meantime.

    2 Mal editiert, zuletzt von LadyInBlack (29. April 2018 um 02:48)

  • I made a cross at "Spatial sequence".


    But what catches my attention more is "Mirror touch". I don't have that but something, what might be related:


    When I see someone having an accident, for example stumbling and falling badly for example on TV or in real life, I don't cringe, as many people do. I literally feel the impact inside my body like a sharp, penetrating electric shock.


    And when I witness someone being treated unfairly (in real life or on TV), I'm feeling a tightness in my throat for a brief moment.


    Can anyone relate to this?

    1. Auditory-tactile - sound is something I feel on my body like physical contact
    2. Misophonia - Sounds can cause me to have strong emotions

    Dafuq, I thought, this was normal. 8o I never would have classified this as "Synesthesia".
    That explains why others don't understand me.
    And I should give up on forcing others to feel Music, like I am.

    Their lives must be "boring" but they also have luck, because most of the Sounds in our culture, especially in the City, hurt...

    @Input

    I can relate to the last sentence.
    I have a seperate phenomenon: I feel like a sharp piercing Sting is slicing through me, when I see someone cut his self.
    Also, I did not have this my whole life, it first appeared for a few years, I guess.
    It's very uncomfortable.
    But I don't think this is the pain, the other must feel, it's something different. :question:

    „Das Ganze ist mehr als die Summe seiner Teile.“
    (Aristoteles, griechischer Philosoph, 384 - 322 v. Chr.)

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Cloudactive (1. Mai 2018 um 11:01)

  • Pfeffermünz: Why do you write in English?

    Since some people here aren't fluent in German I figured I could make the conversation more accessible to a wider audience.
    ^^ Da manche hier im Forum nicht fließend Deutsch sprechen dachte ich mir, dass ich das Thema so mehr Leuten zugänglich machen kann.


    I have a seperate phenomenon: I feel like a sharp piercing Sting is slicing through me, when I see someone cut his self.

    I sometimes experience this when seeing physical trauma in another person. Although it didn't occur to me to think of it as synesthesia, but more like an awareness of danger - it makes me think how I'd react if I were in the same situation and how to defend myself.
    ^^ Manchmal ergeht es mir so wenn ich mitbekomme, dass jemand verletzt wird. Wobei mir nicht in den Sinn kam, es als Synästhesie zu sehen sondern eher als Gefahrenbewusstsein - es führt dazu, dass ich überlege wie ich in der gleichen Situation handeln würde und mich verteiden könnte.

    When it comes to music I can also have strong reactions, but actually they're mostly positive. Certain songs can give me a lot of energy as well. So I'm not sure the term misophonia applies to me, which basically translates to "hatred of sounds".
    ^^ Was Musik angeht habe ich auch starke Reaktionen, normalerweise aber Positive. Bestimme Lieder geben mir sogar einen Energieschub. Insofern weiß ich nicht ob der Begriff der Misophonie, der ja im Prinzip als "Hass von Geräuschen" zu übersetzen ist, so treffend ist.

    Labels are for tins, not people.

  • I certainly don't have synesthesia. But one day, I did my maths homework and suddenly, when I saw a number (9 or 6), there appeared a color (blue-green) in my mind. To me, it was amazing, because this happened nearly never before. I don't remember another situation where this happened. And I don't see this number as a color anymore. So I don't think that this is already synesthesia.

  • Good morning everyone,


    I stumbled upon this thread because I was interested in this topic. Long story short, I never thought I had something like "Synesthesia".

    But to my own surprise, I certainly have both misophonia and mirror-touch.

    I can feel the tactile sensation of touch, if it happens to another person but only if the person is well known to me. Sounds strange? It is strange. I can't explain this phenomenon.

    In the subject of misophonia, sounds can cause very strong emotions within me, sometimes even leading to overloads and meltdows.

    Misophonia seems to be linked to the acoustic sensory integration disorder, many autistic people seem to have this issue. I think misophonia is common among autistic people, because many autistic people seem to have difficulties with hearing and sounds.

  • Mir fällts in Deutsch auch leichter.

    Dinge, die ich sehe, also optische Reize, lassen mich im Hirn Geräusche "hören".

    Zum Einen ist das bei verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen von LICHT der Fall, und zum Anderen bei BEWEGUNGEN, die ich sehe.

    Gucke ich im Winter aus dem (geschlossenen) Fenster und sehe wie es schneit, dann "höre" ich das. Dabei ist es unerheblich, ob das, was ich sehe, sich lautlos abspielt oder ob es wirklich Geräusche macht. Wenn ich im Fernseher den Ton ausmache, "höre" ich auch, was ich sehe. Licht löst dasselbe aus, und das noch stärker, wenn es sich bewegt.

    Die Geräusche in meinem Hirn sind nicht unbedingt so, wie man sie dem Auslöser gemäß erwarten würde. Also wenn ich z.B. einen (lautlosen) Vogel fliegen sehe, entsteht in meinem Kopf nicht "flapp-flapp" oder so, sondern was anderes, ganz eigenes. Es kann sich etwa in dumpfen, rauschenden oder kratzenden "Geräuschen" äussern oder auch ganz anders, jedenfalls fühlt es sich an wie auf einer anderen Ebene der Wahrnehmung.

    Es ist mir nicht möglich, diese Wahrnehmung zu unterdrücken und deshalb dachte ich lange, dass das jeder hat und normal ist. Ich habe zwar auch Tinnitus, aber dies ist eine ganz andere Art der Wahrnehmung, deshalb glaube ich nicht, dass das einen Zusammenhang hat.

    LG, der 1974er

    PS. die meisten Fettnäpfchen sind unsichtbar; bitte gib mir Bescheid, wenn ich eins getroffen habe :roll:

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