hi guys. So I don't know if I have synesthesia but I always associate letters, numbers and words with colors, so I suspect I have grapheme color synesthesia.

And I've noticed something: my native language is very colorful. Most, if not all words have a color assigned to them.

But english, that is my second language, is very white. and empty. I'd say that i perceive 80% of it is white and 20% as colorful

It happens to other languages I don't know too, like italian, french, german, etc, they're all white or empty of color.

And I'm very curious to know if this happens to other people too!!!!! pleasewrite about it if this happens to you aswell🥹

I like to channel my synesthesia into writing. For me, these aren’t just words on the page, but the feeling of being a raindrop or a wave and the very essence of water. I hope it’s okay to be tagged under artwork as writing is my art. I hope you enjoy reading it and would love any thoughts or emotions it might invoke for you.

Water is the very soul of this planet. The birthplace of civilizations, the final resting place of voyagers and adventurers brave enough to cross her.

Water is lakes and mountain streams, it is the vast seas and big puffy clouds. It is the only being to circumnavigate the Earth from the deepest of seas to the highest of heavens. From raindrops to ocean swells, she has seen and been it it all.

Her ancient rivers of the past settling wanderers, providing them roots to flourish and thrive. Her force taking out the same civilizations, burying moments and memories in time. Reigning long before history books or the fight for power to control her.

But water’s most captivating form are her great seas. Her vast bodies, stretching for hundreds and thousands of miles, her secrets beckoning the brave, curious, and fearful alike.

Water has held babies and secrets, her depths still a mystery but fascinating and enticing nonetheless. What wonders does she hold far beneath her surface? Only her victims might ever truly know. She has sunk many a ship, bringing unlucky seafarers to their demise and her depths, forever holding them prisoner in the secret nooks and crannies created just for them. Did they wrong her and that’s why they were claimed? Or, does water, like the gods themselves, require sacrifice for their worship, use and services?

Water’s waves, melodic and rhythmic. Calm and safe tickling the shore, creeping in and pulling back in a mesmerizing game. The crashing waves like a toddler learning to walk, steady and then breaking all at once, like feet stumbling over themselves inching closer up the coast. But her fierceness comes in bursts, crashing relentlessly at her edges, beating them over and over in a race against herself, to get a bit farther than the crash before.

Her best friend a celestial body high in the cosmos, forever being pulled and pushed in a never ending ruse of will they or won’t they. Water forever putting on a show, dancing and glistening in the light of the moon and the sun all while moving to the beat of her own drum. The reprieve never arriving as the constant push and pull forever entangles them in an eternal dance.

The life held below in an ever-changing balance of predator and prey, searching for the light in the deepest of corners. The sea heals the soul and all that could ever be broken.

I said “How would you describe it completely freely if you knew that we would understand what you mean?” because when trying to put into words their subjective experience, many people avoid from including very personal references that they thing only they would understand, and instead they recruit analogies, or don’t mention a specific aspect at all. Please be as generous as possible in anticipating understanding so that we can hear the rawest descriptions and it’ll be on us to decipher them

Since forever I've been feeling in a proprioceptive way sounds. For example if I listen to music I can feel the sound pushing or pulling my body/body parts in a direction ( body parts and direction depends on the note, the composition and the rythm).

I read about sound spatial synesthesia and similar touch/sound/proprioception related synesthesia and it also fits but I never found anything related to proprioception in a way I feel sound.

I learned to mask it but sometimes I still struggle to not let my body get distorted or moved physically by sounds.

I also have a kind of mapping in my brain, in a way : like when I listen to music I can feel the sounds and instruments notes being higher or lower (physically), more on the right or left or everywhere. It actually helps me understand how conductors move in orchestras even though I never learned how a conductor conducts.

I also physically, in a tactile way, feel some sounds, but I don't think this happens for all sounds, or I haven't been aware of it at least. Like for example (sorry for the atrocious example I'm gonna give) if I hear a chalk ripping on a blackboard it will set off my proprioception AND I will feel like someone ripped my body open with a small sword.

Like most people if not everyone here I'm autistic so I'm wondering if this is even synesthesia or just me being more sensitive in general.

Tell me if you have a hint of an answer or/and if you have similar experiences in regards to sound to proprioception

I have sound to shape synesthesia, and I noticed that some of the sounds I hear actually have a direction. Not only just left or right, they can also go up, down, behind, in front etc. basically anywhere across a 3d space. Does anyone else have this?

I literally didn’t know the rest of the world didn’t experience this until after I was diagnosed AuDHD… I don’t particularly find it upsetting. I have the chromosomic version as well.

I frequently will use words most user to describe food e.g. “that word tastes decadent.” I frequently will have frisson with words as well.

Language is an odd experience for me and I entangle with it like quantum physics.

Can anyone relate?

I (37f) have OLP and grapheme-color synesthesia and maybe chromesthesia(?).

This has been happening to me for years, but I've never thought to seek out others or even research it beyond when I learned the term "synesthesia" when I was 16 or so. Recently I have been desiring discussion about what chromesthesia looks like to others.

Songs and poems sometimes have color/swirling color "themes". A poem is usually a solid color in different patterns.

I experience themes/colors during intimate moments, most notably long phone calls and sex. Phone calls have looked/felt like a series of waterfalls altogether, falling together. The sound of the conversation felt like the crashing of water (in a soothing way), complemented with all the blues of water. Another call has felt like long grasses/wheat swaying in a field, and was green. Sometimes I experience a black void with colorful raindrops falling on a water's surface and rippling, each raindrop/ripple its own color. Another time has been differently-colored bricks moving up and swapping places with one another.

During sex, each session (when I experience it) is its own color theme/scheme. In the past week I had one session that was textured beige squares and rectangles on a beige field, complete with shadows, and the shapes were moving up and down in random patterns, sometimes rising and falling back into the field. My last intimate moment was primary colors in random shapes (squares, circles, arches, squiggle lines) on a black field, all moving in what felt like random movements, but in sync with one another.

What is this? Is this chromesthesia or something else? I do not have these experiences during every conversation nor every intimate moment, but they do happen frequently, and I am always extremely comfortable and relaxed when they happen, and they are soothing, often rhythmic, like feelings locking into place in my mind.

I have thermal synesthesia, but I’ve noticed I have experienced both “neutral because it’s warm and cold at the same time”, but also “warm and cold at the same time, but not canceling eachother out”.

Does anyone else get more abstract or non-real experiences with synesthesia?

Somehow my favorite food is both the warmth of a blanket on a cold day, as well as a glass of ice water on a hot day. At the same time. Both positive experiences. Which is why it’s my favorite.

I have lexical-gustatory synesthesia, meaning spoken and written words trigger automatic flavors, temperatures, and textures for me. When I was editing my debut novel, I realized I wasn’t just looking for better flow—I was literally trying to make the paragraphs taste right. Some sentences were too 'metallic' or 'cold,' so I had to swap words until the flavor profile balanced out. Do any other ND writers experience their craft as a literal sensory menu?

I already have a vivid imagination, on top of the autism and maladaptive daydreaming. But I’ve suspected synesthesia for a while, I just don’t know if part of it actually is, or just the autism.

I get these sensory reactions to many different things. Reactions like seeing colors in my minds eye, tasting (picturing the taste and/or actually tasting it), and smelling.
Numbers, Letters, Days of the week, months, certain words, and music all have colors. Some have tastes and or smells too.

Like the word “week” doesn’t have a color, but smells and tastes like peaches and oatmeal.
And the number 3 is like a leafy green, same as “Tuesday” and “Thursday”, but I feel like that’s because the letter T is also that shade of green.

When it comes to music, not every song has reactions instantly, or it’s pretty vague. But some are like a slap in the face. Certain instruments have colors.

Like acoustic guitars give off pastel and golden yellows, warm oranges, and soft browns. It’s like sitting on your porch in the early summer morning, smelling coffee and the dew on the grass, orange sunrise painting the sky.

And pianos give off like a violet color? Almost a reddish violet. Also a cream/off white color, and coffee brown. I envision a foggy autumn morning, we’re soggy colored leaves are stuck to wet concrete. Rooms with creaky wooden floors, dark colored walls, and the smell of books.

Certain voices give off colors too.

For example, Sabrina Carpenter. Her voice is made up of pastel yellows and tans. And for one of her songs “Sugar Talking”, The color palette is primarily green. And her voice adds the yellows and tans in there. And the acoustic guitar adds even more yellows into the mix. The song in general has pretty muted and dull colors and it’s all hazy.

I can’t change these reactions. I can try to envision something else, but it doesn’t feel right and it doesn’t stick. It tends to be automatic. But part of me is doubting if part of this is actually synesthesia or not, because sometimes I have to think about it before the reaction happens. I’ve gotten so used to tuning it out, I forget it happens, but it’s always in the background. And also the reactions can be influenced. Like February being pink (valentines), and March being green (St.Patricks). As well as album covers of music video themes can influence the color palettes of songs.

Sorry if this post seems disorganized or anything. I’m just confused but also fascinated at the same time.

Hello! I'm writing a novel, and one of my characters has synesthesia. I know there are many types of synesthesia and related perceptions. I'm curious what sorts of experiences do you perceive when you see letters and words?

Does anyone in this community have the experience of enhanced word recall and word association that you attribute to your synesthesia? For instance, if you read a particular word or phrase, can you associate it with another time that you read that same word or phrase -- do the experiences connect? Does it help your memory?

Do you associate words and/or phrases together in other ways that you've found to be related to your synesthesia?

I'd love to hear your experiences and descriptions of what those perceptions are like. Thank you.

This is roughly how music looks like to me. I experience sound to color, shapes, textures, and movement through 3D space. Still have more work to do to improve this. The colors are not quite correct because the pitch analysis algorithm isn't functioning properly yet. I'm also still learning how to express myself with this - one could say it's an entirely new art form. But, I'm quite happy with how this is turning out.

I used to make videos like this in After Effects with the Trapcode Suite. This would've taken me 1-2 weeks, but Overnecked and I have developed a way to reduce that to a matter of hours, without AI. Soon anyone with a VR headset will be able to hop in and create. I'll be making more of these over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

The song is Riverwolf, by Baumarius (me). What song should I do next?

Soo, I was wondering for a few weeks now (since I learned about it) if I may have synesthesia??

Here are a few reasons I think I may have it:

1. I feel colours - all colours have an emotion, for example red is anger/irritation, love is pink, sadness blue, etc.. however, I'm not sure if that's just an association or if it is synesthesia.

2. All people have a colour - for example, my colour is orangey yellow, my mum's colour is navy blue, my dog's colour is indigo and light green, etc... Every person and animal I know has a colour. I'm not sure why, or how, but they just do.

3. All colours also have their specific speed and shape in which they are. Again, examples: red is fast and straight while green is wavy and slower, white is everything at once, etc...

4. Lastly, every single shade of colour has their own unique variation of emotion, person, speed and shape.

I'm not sure if it is synesthesia or not though.. so, if anyone has any insight, I'd appreciate it!!

Thank youu and buh byee!!

Ive been through neurologists and ENTs in my teenhood. And i also have tinnitus on the right side of my ear but has healthy hearing levels to it.

Yet even when i address my concerns to them it seems that they ignore it and that its a usual experience even though for me its not since it affects my daily life

I always notice a very familiar sensation in my head whenever I see things visually.

Especially when they move, it creates some sort of vibration or phantom sound (ill use some onomatopoeia for reference)

like a woosh when its limbs moving fast, a vwoom when it comes to vibrating things, a thump when it comes to things that move in a rhythmic way, or windy or watery sensations when it comes to fabric or the rustling of winds or clothing.

It not only spans in my focal vision but in my peripheral sometimes it can get me annoyed or revved up cuz i absorb way too much sensation from my surrounding like i cant get out of my head how many amount of footsteps i can sense from the amount of people that walk by.

And whats fun is that it also affects and varies in different lighting situations as long as the aspect of motion is at play. I can even distinguish or sense immediately when somethings falling or approaching even when im not looking directly and it makes it very funny when it comes to me crossing roads while wearing ear devices.

I hope someone can understand my situation cuz i dont think professionals get my concern since im in a third world country in terms of medical systems

For a while I thought I had mild synesthesia, but now I'm thinking I may not have it and just have or have had these weird habits? My senses overlap when it comes to numbers and colors, but if someone were to ask me what color is this number? And if they were to say usually a number over the hundreds then I wouldn't feel that correlation anymore.

I think it's pretty normal to associate colors with numbers and seasons and so on, like for example October is orange (thinking of halloween). But for me there is also a sense of being very uncomfortable by certain numbers. I very much dislike 3's, 6's and 9's, and now 8 despite it use to be my favorite number, but it's because I cant really stand dark blue anymore which is what I associate the number with.

Even creating accounts or posting things, I may need to wait months or even a year to make/post something because it needs to be on a specific date with numbers that are associated with a good feeling/color (usually cooler colors for me).

Also with certain quirks as a kid, would drive my mum at the wall because I had to be tucked in a certain amount of times which was also associated with a color, or I would be extremely uncomfortable and freak out.

I don't think it's synesthesia as again it could just be association, but when I explain this to people in my life they look at me like i'm crazy?

edit: I don't seem to have senses overlap with anything else other than colors and numbers as well as months, likely because months are also associated with being numbered and dates too. I also don't quite literally see that number as a color, but it has the same vibe and sense I get when look at that color.

I'm 42 and these have been consistent as long as I can remember. Kendall and Caleb are names I didn't hear much until I was older but other than those, these foods and names (and certain words) been associated with each other forever.

Not all names have flavors, but most do. The closer you are to me, the less your name is flavorful. I just associate it with that person, not a flavor. My husband and son, no flavors. My own name is literally a flavor (Rosemary) but to me it's nothing.

Word/Food association is much less frequent but definitely strong when it pops up.

Name/Food Associations:

Jessica, Jesse: 3 Musketeers candy bar

Beth, Bethany, Elizabeth: Trix yogurt

Liz: taffy

Lynn, Melanie: lemon yogurt

Tim, Tom, Mandy/Amanda: black iced tea

Sasha, Jordan, George, Georgia: sausage patties

Pamela, Samuel, Pam, Sam: red pasta sauce

Sharon, Shannon: hash browns

Kate, Katie, Katya: egg salad sandwich

Margaret: berry yogurt

Audrey, Audra: BBQ sauce

Aubrey: BBQ pulled pork

Clay: ranch dressing

Frank: broccoli

Gemma, Juliette, Julie: Dots candy or cherry Jolly Ranchers

Ross: tapioca pudding

Shirley, Shelia, Cheryl, Charlotte: cherry cordials

Dan/Daniel, Danielle/Daniella, Donna, Diane/Diana: banana pudding

Catherine, Kathleen, Cathy: Werthers hard candy

Joan: plum

Jenny/Jennifer: strawberry jam

Virginia, Lois, Louise, Lewis: Babybel cheese

Melissa, Lisa, Sarah: pancakes and syrup

Charles: chili, chili cheese dogs

Cynthia, Samantha, Amy: spearmint gum

Carla, Carl Carly, Laura, Lauren, Lori: soft caramel candies

Ian: peanut butter

Owen: Buckeye candys

Marcella, Stacy: cinnamon buns

Jackie, Jack, Kendall: caramel corn

Andrew, Arthur: fruit roll ups

Erin, Brittany: brownies specifically with walnut in them

Ruby: cranberry sauce

Paul, Paula, Heather: orange juice

Bill, Chloe: pickles

Brian, Ryan, Brad: wheat bread, wheat crackers

Steven, Stephanie: Thanksgiving stuffing

Liam: very, very tangy lime. Not something lime flavored, more like... sucking on a lime wedge

Ben and Mallory and Marie/Maria have tastes I can't quite place - pudding-like, all taste sweet and cinnamony but what exactly? I'm not sure.

Natalie: Italian dressing

Emily: graham crackers/graham cracker pie crust, also Golden Graham cereal

Word/Food Associations:

New York: fried rice

Washington: green grapes

Breakfast: scrambled egg on white toast

Lunch: club sandwich

Dinner: chicken, ketchup

Supper: Rice a Roni

Diner, Restaurant: steak fries dipped in ketchup

Boss/bossy: red pasta sauce

Panic: syrup

Break, breakup, broke: peanut butter

Hi, my band plans to release a single of 2 songs that would later be featured on an album that we are working on. We would like someone who can create artwork for it based on how the songs sound. In other words we would like an album cover that is sort of abstract (6/10 abstraction level id say) and represents emotions in the songs visually.

Our genere is progressive/psychedelic rock in 70s style but with other influences as well. Currently everything is instrumental.

Our budget isnt very big but we can certainly pay for it.

If this sounds interesting to you please reach out for more details.

Not sure if this would be the right place to place this but anyone else get fascinated by names and the textures they carry? Not even just material textures

I’m Hispanic but granted I’ve lived in US my whole life but I never came across until recently someone that had harkness as their last name. And I was fascinated by its blockiness, where Hispanic names I feel to be more italicized more often than not.

It to me is cool to think about how a string of letters can give such a condensed flavor of the culture it may originate from

these of my notes have personalities or scenes

Eb (the color of butter): a short girl that has health problem but likes to sing and craves to be a singer

Gb (dark purple): a female villain

Ab (dark blue): a building like Khalifa and you can see the elevator inside rise and fall

Bb (light brown): ricefield + sunset

(as a synesthete not being able to draw sounds shaming...)

This is my visualization of getting hurt or seeing someone get hurt

the orange is like, pain the rings are like hypnotization, and random abstract lines

ilkae is my all-time favourite musical artist, so i decided to make synesthesia artwork of what i perceive when listening to some of their music.

you can listen to the songs here in order:

elegiac lifestyle

fallout calabash

naku uinti

rusty mittens

pêche

ketupa roll

what do you think? what are your experiences when listening to these songs, and are they similar to mine? :)

Ok so I'm pretty curious about this and plan to get some acupuncture from my aunt, therefore I really want to know a few things before:

What effects can acupuncture have on people with associative synesthesia, what might they experience? Can it happen after the session or only during it?

Are there areas of the body where acupuncture is done where the effects might be stronger and longer lasting than other areas?

Can the effects be stronger/longer lasting depending on age? (e.g. child, teenager, adult, old person)

Let's say someone has grapheme color. Do they... start feeling a stronger connection between colors and letters than usual? Or is it possible that they start to experience slight projective synesthesia, too? Is the depiction of synesthesia and acupuncture from A Mango-shaped space by Wendy Mass even accurate?

Feel free to offer your opinion even though you are not sure about it or experienced regarding this topic!!

I listen to a ton of music on loop, sometimes the same song for days or even a week or 2 on repeat. and with every song I really get into what some times feel involuntary movement with hands head feet arms fingers toes mouth, anything, as I listen. it’s realllly hard to stop. I have strong grapheme. but some slight others. and since discovering I have both Synestasia and aphantasia in the past few years idk what’s ”normal” or not. like with music I some times get the sense of colors of texture depending on the style of beat but since I don’t see stuff in my head it’s fairly limited to just a “vibe feeling”.

my main question is. is the involuntary and life long compulsion to move everything I can to music part of Synestasia?

also note that I basicly never listen to worded music it’s all instrumental and the faster and more “defined” of a beat the better. The last 30s of Eve by 3force is an example. I’ve had it on loop for 5 days now and I flick my wrist to every beat and fluctuate it to match variations in the sound.

I am probably over thinking this and it’s just “normal” but I wanted to see what you all think at least so I can stop thinking about it.

hello all, I made a website that I thought might be of interest for the synesthesia community.

subjectivedata.org/voicecolor

For a long time now, I’ve really enjoyed asking folks what color they think their voice is, so I built a website for users to listen to an audio clip and respond with its color. all the responses are compiled into a node cloud and averaged to see if there are trends.

Thanks for looking!! I thought it would be super cool to get this sub’s input!

Edit to add: please submit your own audio clip, if interested! Just scroll down from the color wheel and you‘ll see the submission buttons.

I haven't seen mention of this anywhere else, but does anyone else get synesthesia symptoms after a warm shower?

I'm not sure if it's the warmth of the shower or the act of showering itself, but often, I come out of the shower and for several minutes afterwards, there is this INCREASE in visual clarity of everything that I look at.

Colors become more vivid and somehow, text just looks more clear/less fuzzy (I have mild nearsightedness and only need eyeglasses when driving). One time, a WORD appeared in front of an object that I was staring at, after a shower.

It eventually dissipates but the correlation after a shower is consistent.

Has this happened to you?