What Is Synesthesia?

By Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor | October 18, 2017 12:07am ET


Synesthesia is a neurological condition that causes the brain to process data in the form of several senses at once. For example, a person with synesthesia may hear sounds while also seeing them as colorful swirls. The condition isn't fully understood, but it is thought to be genetic, and it affects more women than men.

Synesthesia is uncommon, occurring in only about 1 in 2,000 people, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). The condition is more prevalent in artists, writers and musicians; about 20 to 25 percent of people of these professions have the condition, according to Psychology Today. Examples of famous artists with synesthesia include pop singer Lorde, violinist Kaitlyn Hova, and painters Wassily Kandinsky and David Hockney. Writer Vladimir Nabokov, composer Olivier Messiaen and physicist Richard Feynman also may have had synesthesia, according to the APA.

Types

The word "synesthesia" comes from the Greek phrase for "to perceive together. " According to Psychology Today, over 60 types of synesthesia have been reported. Most people with the condition experience at least two types of synesthesia. The most common type is grapheme-color synesthesia, which is when letters or numbers seem to be colored on the written page or visualized as colored in the mind.

Some other types of synesthesia include the following:

Smelling certain scents when hearing certain sounds.
Seeing music as colors in the air (music-color synesthesia).
Tasting words (lexical-gustatory synesthesia).
Feeling that certain textures cause certain emotions (tactile-emotion synesthesia).
Feeling that time has a physical characteristic (time-space synesthesia).
Seeing a certain color when feeling pain.
Seeing sign language as colors.

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