# Synaesthesia and Type



## Reje (Nov 18, 2012)

Ballast said:


> Yeah, it is interesting! I remember describing the phenomenon to people I knew before I knew that it was a thing and that it had a word. And they'd always be like _nahh...you probably just think...you're probably just seeing influences from the color surrounding the words,_ etc etc. I remember even considering those colored alphabet magnets everyone has when they're little, but then I thought....wait...which set has grey-ish brown (G) or dark liverish-purple (R)? So one day my friend started testing me. He'd ask me, over a period of months, about different letters and I'd always answer the same. He had no choice to believe me after that.
> 
> And yeah, totally didn't have a choice over the colors and frankly I don't care for most of them. The patterns they make in words aren't generally too unpleasant though. My vowels are:
> 
> ...


Wow, that music thing sounds intense. I've always wanted to have some form involving music, it sounds like the most fun sort.

I like your rainbow word idea  unfortunately I don't have a nice blue or purple though...


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## Fear Itself (Feb 20, 2013)

Reje said:


> I've heard of a personality one, could that be it? Apparently it makes maths difficult when some of the numbers don't get along. :tongue:


I don't know if this is officially a thing, but that's possibly one of the reasons I was always so bad at math. I'd feel uncomfortable with certain math problems/answers because the numbers weren't getting along. For example 2 is sort of preppy while 3 is kind of cool/tough. They're both female, and are kind of frienemies. :laughing: Think the movie 'Bring it On: All or Nothing' with Hayden Panettiere as number 2 and Solange Knowles as number 3. (Don't judge me xD)


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## Reje (Nov 18, 2012)

Fear Itself said:


> I don't know if this is officially a thing, but that's possibly one of the reasons I was always so bad at math. I'd feel uncomfortable with certain math problems/answers because the numbers weren't getting along. For example 2 is sort of preppy while 3 is kind of cool/tough. They're both female, and are kind of frienemies. :laughing: Think the movie 'Bring it On: All or Nothing' with Hayden Panettiere as number 2 and Solange Knowles as number 3. (Don't judge me xD)


Hehe that sounds cool :laughing: apart from being inconvenient, I suppose. It is a thing I think, I'm part of a synaesthesia group on facebook (I decided to make this thread because of one of the posts there actually) and there are heaps of people with that type.


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## Enfpleasantly (Mar 5, 2012)

I don't hear colors, or taste words, but I see shapes with things that typically are not associated with shapes. I have spatial-sequence/visual-spatial/time-space synaesthesia. I see the months of the year in a specific pattern around my body. I see numbers in a specific pattern as well, especially dates. 

The way I see numbers (specifically associated with age) is similar to this, minus color...I don't see colors.


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## Reje (Nov 18, 2012)

Enfpleasantly said:


> I don't hear colors, or taste words, but I see shapes with things that typically are not associated with shapes. I have spatial-sequence/visual-spatial/time-space synaesthesia. I see the months of the year in a specific pattern around my body. I see numbers in a specific pattern as well, especially dates.
> 
> The way I see numbers (specifically associated with age) is similar to this, minus color...I don't see colors.


Wow :O I swear everyone else's synaesthesia is so much more exciting and impressive than mine :frustrating: So does that ever come in useful for you? Or get in the way at all?


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## Enfpleasantly (Mar 5, 2012)

Reje said:


> Wow :O I swear everyone else's synaesthesia is so much more exciting and impressive than mine :frustrating: So does that ever come in useful for you? Or get in the way at all?


I believe it's a huge benefit when it comes to time recall. I can remember many specific things about specific years, and months during the recent years. I believe I visualize time (months, age, years, etc.) because it is a point of reference for myself so that I can remember things. I think I see time as a journey and that's why I visualize it. 

The cognitive benefits of time-space synaesthesia – Neurophilosophy

This is my personal month synaesthesia....









Someome pointed out to me that it is based on the school year I had as a child, so I must've formed this specific image when I was of school age. I think I see fall on a curve building up to the "home stretch" of school. I thought about why the curve would end at December and I think it was because once Christmas break was over, I saw the rest of the year as a straight shot to the pot of gold (summer). This never changes, no matter what. I always see my months like this.


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## jdstankosky (May 1, 2013)

Let me tell you a little bit about my chromesthesia (more specific than sound-color synaesthesia):

I see music. I see vivid colors and lines, feel things (to a slightly less extent), and these also invoke intense emotions. I'll explain more below.

I kind of feel singing (e.g. a capella). I don't really see much at all, but it still messes with my sense of touch and emotions.

I do not see or feel speech, but I am highly attracted to rhythmical cadence and melodic inflection. Some voices can really attract me or repel me. It's almost like aesthetically pleasing/displeasing, but I can't really "see" the voice.

Sudden, loud, and unexpected noises scare the BEJEEZUS out of me. Don't jump out at me, startle me, and expect NOT to have a dislocated jaw if you're within punching distance. It's a violent rape of all 3 senses simultaneously. Prepare for an equally violent rape of your face with my fist.



Anyways, onto the awesome bit: Music. OMG music. I wrote about this in another thread, but I'll try to do a much better job explaining this here.

Anyone here should be aware that sound is just waves of motion at specific rates of speed. Typically, human ears translate these vibrations into sounds when their rate falls somewhere in-between 15 vibrations per second and 25,000 vibrations per second. (15Hz - 25KHz)

Nearly everyone's range of "hearing" is somewhere in between that, rarely to the outliers, and everyone's range is different.

To measure the frequency and shape of these waves, people use oscilloscopes.











In fact, a lot of music players implement some type of oscilloscoping effect and colors to music visualizations, like Windows Media Player.











So, why am I talking about this kind of stuff? Because, believe it or not, my brain has a built in visualization when it comes to music. The first thing about it is that I see these wireframe meshes of the sounds.

This is a wireframe:











Imagine that each of these lines is related to a particular sound that the song has, and the ridges and valleys are somehow related to the volume, pitch, and so on. With complex songs, the wireframe also gets more complex.




















While the wireframe landscape might change extremely rapidly, there's always one part of my mind that sees a specific shape for every song, no matter what it is. It's like of like a raindrop/flower/sea anemone thing. The lines and waves seem to "pulse" outwardly from this point. I tried to draw a picture of it in another thread.











And oddly enough, while google image searching for wireframes and chromesthesia, I unburied this:












"_*Want to Hear Colors and See Sounds? Try Synesthetic for iOS -* Synesthesia, a neurological malady that makes senses meant for one part of the brain be understood by another part, could be the only medical condition music fans might want to suffer from. The most notorious variety of Synesthesia is “Chromesthesia,” which causes a person to see colors representing the sounds they’re hearing, with fun-sounding implications for music._"



There's a strikingly similar visual aspect...


So, besides the flowery shape thing and the wireframe visuals, there's also a connection to colors (and flavors?). These are personally my favorite parts of the entire experience.

Bright intense yellows, like lemonade and sunbeams...




















Cooling greens, like the gentle waters of a grotto and spearmint...




















And also, as an ENTP, I usually observe emotion in an objective manner. However, with music, emotions are subjectively projected within me. While listening to a song, I have little to no control over what or how it makes me feel.

So the lines, the shapes, the colors, (the flavors?,) and the moods are all part of my music experience. It's troublesome to listen to music in the car, so I often don't if I'm driving. It's also hard to pay attention to someone talking to me if I'm listening to music. Interestingly enough, I can focus on writing exponentially better WITH music.

I'm a jerk when I'm in the zone while listening to a tune. I HATE being interrupted when I'm listening to music. The louder and better the fidelity, the better the experience. I'm the kind of guy who, if provided with lots of money, would become a pretentious audiophile snob.

I listen, nearly exclusively, to electronica. My favorite genres are electro-house, goa, psytrance, and ambi[ant]-trance/chillstep. I also occasionally enjoy instrumental jazz, piano solo, and relaxing asian/new age tunes. I DJ as a personal hobby, which is soooo fun, you have no idea. I have DJ'd two parties (sister-in-law's 14th birthday, and a random spontaneous house party) with excellently positive comments. I do so wish I could buy more equipment.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.


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## MelBel (May 25, 2013)

Ballast said:


> Yeah, it is interesting! I remember describing the phenomenon to people I knew before I knew that it was a thing and that it had a word. And they'd always be like _nahh...you probably just think...you're probably just seeing influences from the color surrounding the words,_ etc etc. I remember even considering those colored alphabet magnets everyone has when they're little, but then I thought....wait...which set has grey-ish brown (G) or dark liverish-purple (R)? So one day my friend started testing me. He'd ask me, over a period of months, about different letters and I'd always answer the same. He had no choice to believe me after that.
> 
> And yeah, totally didn't have a choice over the colors and frankly I don't care for most of them. The patterns they make in words aren't generally too unpleasant though. My vowels are:
> 
> ...


Y'know, it would bother me if people were suspicious of my Syn, and I've been prepared for it, as well as people testing me to check consistency, like people do when someone is LYING (!), which seems to have happened to you. Sorry. But, you certainly proved it's reality and your honesty. I'd actually not completely mind being tested, preferably by scientific professionals that understand Syn. Because I know I'd be consistent, and I kinda wanna show that off as proof I'm not trying to get att'n, and to futher prove Syn is real! Anyway, I think you should special-order some alphabet & number magnets for your fridge in exactly the shades you see! That would be so cool! Interesting, your A is bright blue, which makes you stand apart from the many who see it as red. I like your *Stupal* !! Pretty! That's cool to find a perfect rainbow. (I suspected you'd struggle to find exact shades through what the color box provides, since it's pretty limited).. The guy you're talking about who's tastes go back to when he was little- that's James Wannerton. I know him. I actually still owe him an e-mail - terrible w/ correspond.! He was actually on 60 minutes in 2003, the first time I EVER heard ab't Synaesthesia, and learned it had a name. I'll never forget it. There were 3-4 different people representing different Syn., and James represented mine. I couldn't believe that it was a thing to taste words, and I knew then I wasn't a freak- lol! I forgot ab't it for yrs til Syd Barret from Pink Floyd died, and his Sister said he was a Synaesthete. I then did research and connected to others on the topic, which is a fascinatingly odd world! Anyway, yeah, that's true that most of the tastes are established early, however, I have at least a few from my 20's, and I believe that I'll continue to develop new ones, though some insist that doesn't happen. It IS awful to have bad tasting words, but sometimes I'm annoyed even by good-tasting words, simply because I find them distracting at the time. Where I just want to hear the words and understand them as they're meant to be, with it's true meaning, not some imaginary flavor, y'know? Sometimes I have to fight through the tastes and resay the word or phrase again and again til hopefully the taste departs for the moment and the actual meaning comes through. I'm a really picky eater too! And I'm not a food lover either. Food is fuel, and little else to me, mostly. So, it's strange to have this type of Syn to me. I've heard it said that I should be fat, because of it, and I've thought the same thing, since it appears like an obsession with food, and as if it would certainly appetize me (which sometimes it does). I like your music/ temp thing. It makes sense in a way, though, I pick music based on mood. Happy for happy, sad for sad or soulful, etc. I am in tuned with feelings and music is a great expression/ extension of that. Hopefully this wasn't too long a response!


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## Ballast (Jun 17, 2013)

MelBel said:


> Y'know, it would bother me if people were suspicious of my Syn, and I've been prepared for it, as well as people testing me to check consistency, like people do when someone is LYING (!), which seems to have happened to you. Sorry. But, you certainly proved it's reality and your honesty. I'd actually not completely mind being tested, preferably by scientific professionals that understand Syn. Because I know I'd be consistent, and I kinda wanna show that off as proof I'm not trying to get att'n, and to futher prove Syn is real! Anyway, I think you should special-order some alphabet & number magnets for your fridge in exactly the shades you see! That would be so cool! Interesting, your A is bright blue, which makes you stand apart from the many who see it as red. I like your *Stupal* !! Pretty! That's cool to find a perfect rainbow. (I suspected you'd struggle to find exact shades through what the color box provides, since it's pretty limited).. The guy you're talking about who's tastes go back to when he was little- that's James Wannerton. I know him. I actually still owe him an e-mail - terrible w/ correspond.! He was actually on 60 minutes in 2003, the first time I EVER heard ab't Synaesthesia, and learned it had a name. I'll never forget it. There were 3-4 different people representing different Syn., and James represented mine. I couldn't believe that it was a thing to taste words, and I knew then I wasn't a freak- lol! I forgot ab't it for yrs til Syd Barret from Pink Floyd died, and his Sister said he was a Synaesthete. I then did research and connected to others on the topic, which is a fascinatingly odd world! Anyway, yeah, that's true that most of the tastes are established early, however, I have at least a few from my 20's, and I believe that I'll continue to develop new ones, though some insist that doesn't happen. It IS awful to have bad tasting words, but sometimes I'm annoyed even by good-tasting words, simply because I find them distracting at the time. Where I just want to hear the words and understand them as they're meant to be, with it's true meaning, not some imaginary flavor, y'know? Sometimes I have to fight through the tastes and resay the word or phrase again and again til hopefully the taste departs for the moment and the actual meaning comes through. I'm a really picky eater too! And I'm not a food lover either. Food is fuel, and little else to me, mostly. So, it's strange to have this type of Syn to me. I've heard it said that I should be fat, because of it, and I've thought the same thing, since it appears like an obsession with food, and as if it would certainly appetize me (which sometimes it does). I like your music/ temp thing. It makes sense in a way, though, I pick music based on mood. Happy for happy, sad for sad or soulful, etc. I am in tuned with feelings and music is a great expression/ extension of that. Hopefully this wasn't too long a response!


Aww, yeah! I wasn't upset when people doubted my synesthesia. I guess I'm pretty used to skepticism, and frankly I didn't have a word for it at the time, nor was I aware of the phenomenon. But it was pretty cool proving my consistency to those who bothered to keep track.  I also wouldn't mind being tested scientifically. I took a huge online examination test thing, and scored....over 90 something percent accurate, which they said was the typical result of an actual synesthete (as opposed to someone just faking it and guessing). Can't remember where the test was.

But yeah, wow, I love all the different ways synesthesia can manifest! True that it can be frustrating when it gets in the way of our regular perception, but luckily, in my case, my colors are really in the background. I see them so constantly and so intrinsically that I don't really think about it. However, the music/temperature thing...it can be a pain when I'm sad on a hot day, or feeling energetic on a cold day, lol! When I really think about it, all the music that I listen to is sorted in my head in terms of temperature first and mood second. 

So what is your favorite word/flavor?


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## Bluity (Nov 12, 2012)

Is there a test one can take to see if they have synthesis? I doubt whatever I have is as strong as those mentioned but:

When I see reds like these, I taste chili.

Dark blues taste like I'm drinking a nice tall glass of cool water.

*Rainbow* words taste like fruit salad.

Silence also tastes like cold water.

Gray tastes like ice and mist.

Air conditioned rooms taste like ice tea. 

Certain syllables taste tarty (the "cer" in certain for example). And other words feel like bell chimes. I say feel because I don't hear it, but feel the bells ringing.

I read books for delicious words. It's like I'm eating the prose.

I never thought about it being a condition. I know people don't understand what I'm talking about when I say I find certain phrases tasty, but I always thought it was an aesthetic quirk rather than a neurological condition.


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## Scootaloo (Mar 18, 2013)

I have Chromesthesia, and I never even knew it until about a week ago. I thought everyone saw colors when they listened to music and voices. I see lazer light show type things in my mind, especially in songs that have layers set out. I also have perfect pitch, and every single individual note is so incredibly special to me because of it's color and shape. A is reddish pink. E is my favorite note and every time I hear it I get excited. It's bright green. When I listen to songs I see a screen with moving shapes and colors. Sometimes when I listen to vocalists I feel where they are singing out of. If they are especially nasily, for example, I feel intense and uncomfortable pressure on my nose. With darker tones of voice I feel pressure in the back of my nose and in my throat. The lower the note is, the darker it appears. 

There you have it. A peek into my life. Oh, and I'm an INFJ.


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## jdstankosky (May 1, 2013)

Scootaloo said:


> I have Chromesthesia, and I never even knew it until about a week ago. I thought everyone saw colors when they listened to music and voices. I see lazer light show type things in my mind, especially in songs that have layers set out. I also have perfect pitch, and every single individual note is so incredibly special to me because of it's color and shape. A is reddish pink. E is my favorite note and every time I hear it I get excited. It's bright green. When I listen to songs I see a screen with moving shapes and colors. Sometimes when I listen to vocalists I feel where they are singing out of. If they are especially nasily, for example, I feel intense and uncomfortable pressure on my nose. With darker tones of voice I feel pressure in the back of my nose and in my throat. The lower the note is, the darker it appears.
> 
> There you have it. A peek into my life. Oh, and I'm an INFJ.


So awesome we both have chromesthesia and experience it so differently.


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## Reje (Nov 18, 2012)

I did a test for synaesthesia, but it was only for grapheme-colour. I suppose it would be quite difficult to test a lot of the others online, but there may be tests out there for some of them. Here's the test I did:

The Synesthesia Battery

It produces a consistency score at the end for each section, with typical ranges for synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes, as well as a nice little colour chart.


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## Enfpleasantly (Mar 5, 2012)

I just took the quick preview test on the site out of curiosity and noticed the last question about automatically hearing a sound when I see movement. I most definitely do that. Most people don't? 

Take gifs for instance, I hear the repetitive movements over and over for as long as I stare at them. The sound is like a whooshing sound and soft rumbles, like the noise the T-Rex steps make in Jurassic Park. Is this not something everyone does?


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## MadRabbit (Feb 7, 2013)

@MelBel Damn you, you got me addicted to synesthesia threads... It's just too interesting to ignore, especially as an INFP


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## MelBel (May 25, 2013)

MadRabbit said:


> @_MelBel_ Damn you, you got me addicted to synesthesia threads... It's just too interesting to ignore, especially as an INFP


Aww, he-he-he :laughing: It is interesting, huh? Yeah, the N's have it, don't they?! The only people on the poll are N's. That's fascinating to me.


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## ccath17c (Apr 21, 2013)

I'M an INTP and I have about 15 and more types.


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## hannahgracex (Mar 25, 2013)

INFP with grapheme-color synesthesia


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## MelBel (May 25, 2013)

Bluity said:


> Is there a test one can take to see if they have synthesis? I doubt whatever I have is as strong as those mentioned but:
> 
> When I see reds like these, I taste chili.
> 
> ...


YEA!!! Another "taste" synaesthete!! Thank you for joining me  It sounds like you have a really cool Syn. experience- tasty and colorful!


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## MelBel (May 25, 2013)

Ballast said:


> Aww, yeah! I wasn't upset when people doubted my synesthesia. I guess I'm pretty used to skepticism, and frankly I didn't have a word for it at the time, nor was I aware of the phenomenon. But it was pretty cool proving my consistency to those who bothered to keep track.  I also wouldn't mind being tested scientifically. I took a huge online examination test thing, and scored....over 90 something percent accurate, which they said was the typical result of an actual synesthete (as opposed to someone just faking it and guessing). Can't remember where the test was.
> 
> But yeah, wow, I love all the different ways synesthesia can manifest! True that it can be frustrating when it gets in the way of our regular perception, but luckily, in my case, my colors are really in the background. I see them so constantly and so intrinsically that I don't really think about it. However, the music/temperature thing...it can be a pain when I'm sad on a hot day, or feeling energetic on a cold day, lol! When I really think about it, all the music that I listen to is sorted in my head in terms of temperature first and mood second.
> 
> So what is your favorite word/flavor?


That's a tough one. The word prove or improve taste like orange slices, and I like oranges. the phrase "falling apart" tastes like caramel apples. Secret tastes like chocolate. That one I really like! But, generally, the tastes are distracting, and sometimes annoy me a touch. What's your falling letter, number/ and or word color combo?


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