Synesthesia

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Um, hey.

So... I have this... permanent synesthesia. As in, when I hear a certain note or any drumbeat or a harsh sound, I see a flash of light, usually white, before my eyes.

Does this have to do with Aspergers or should I see a doctor?

I have a form of it too, but mine I just see hazy colours at the side of my vision for different notes.

Not much can be done for it really, I wouldn't bother seeing a doc. He's just gonna look at you funny and smile.

sister is aspie and has synesthesia....she sees letters as colours and didnt realise there was a name for it till her twenties.
it's more common in ASD families.

it's not a disorder [as far as am know...could be wrong],unless its ruining quality of life,dont bother with doctor,they probably wouldnt know what it is anyway.

I do this when I'm first laying down with my eyes closed. I see flashes of colors when I hear sounds... not sure if that's quite the same or not since my eyes are closed. But I always wondered why I did that...hmmm

It's not ruining my quality of life until my Science teacher comes into play and says that I should see a doctor.

Otherwise, it's fun.

Synaesthesia and ASDs tend to coincide at a much higher rate than the rest of the population.

Do what I did. Write a paper on it and get a scholarship.

BTW, I see numbers and letters in color.

I don't mean to make light of your situation especially if it bothers you, but I've always thought synesthesia would be incredibly cool to experience. That and hemispherical dissociation from a completely severed corpus callosum.

I see letters and numbers in colors (this is called grapheme-color synesthesia)....I also associate textures and emotions with numbers.....certain numbers are soothing to me and other a little frightening. Some numbers are soft and fuzzy like 2, 4 and 8, and others are hard and shiny like 3 and 9. The number 6 is little and dark grey, while the number 9 is huge and blood red.....my fiance's new red cabinets remind me of the color nine....blood red and so shiny I can see my reflection in them. Certain combinations of numbers are colored depending on the particular digits they contain......some numbers have a more intense color and sometimes the colors blend together like 3226 is a reddish-orange, because 3 is red, 2 is yellow (but soft and less intense than the red of the number 3), and the color of the number 6 kinda just vanishes.....

I also can easily tell if numbers are prime by the way they feel to me, and because I associate numbers with colors and textures I can easily memorize long sequences of numbers....and I'm pretty good at doing math.

Letters work in a similar way. Entire words have colors associated with them (like numbers some colors of letters are more intense and dominate the word), however I don't' associate textures or emotions with words and letters the way I do with numbers. But this also gives me a very good memory for anything I've read or written.....this made school very easy for me, more so in college and grad school.....

I didn't know this was called synesthesia until I was a teenager, I used to get in trouble when I was younger because I'd argue with a kid who made their letter P violet, when clearly it is green. Letters and numbers in the wrong colors are upsetting to me. My sister's cell phone displays all the letters and numbers in rainbow colors, but they are the wrong colors...I can't stand to look at her phone......

On first glance I usually will see letters and numbers in their appropriate colors, then as I begin to focus and concentrate the colors fade to black or blue or whatever color they actually are.

Is it a form of synesthesia if I see sounds in my head? I don't actually see the image/color with my eyes. Instead, I get a mental picture. I don't consciously make the picture, it just pops into my head.

For example, one time I made a small repeating 'poot' sound on my trumpet, and suddenly a picture of 4 small, gray, and oval shaped objects imprinted onto a gray background popped into my head. I played a 'C' once, and I got this picture of a long and broad yellow strip moving through a black background. I went sharp, and the strip of yellow 'jumped' and the color got brighter.

The above examples are one of the more abstract pictures I get. Other times, I just see a regular solid color.

Oh, and I don't know if this is synesthesia, but I've always thought of numbers as "people" with personalities. Every number has their own "feel" or emotion to it.

Hyzera - yes, it sounds like synaesthesia to me. The images/colours in your head are what's known as Associative Synaesthesia ( forget the exact term), rather than projected Synaesthesia. Are your colours/ images constant? - for example is a 'C' always the same colour ? Would a 'C' sharp always be brighter - or would it depend on the instrument playing it?

Your numbers having personalities is now recognised as being one particular type of Synaesthesia.

Sorry not to be able to give you loads more info - can't concentrate well right now - but check out the Synaesthesia UK website - UKSA for short,

hope this helps

'5th'

Heck yes, it's fun.

Just a bit annoying at times, especially near the ending of "The Howling" by Within Temptation... or anything else with a lot of drumbeats in it.

I will admit to feeling a little envious.

I think it would be a blast to sit down with a beer and a synthesizer, clap on headphones and play myself a fireworks display!

M

Synaesthesia always seemed pretty cool. Like a free firework display all the time.

While I don't have synaesthesia myself, I do associate months with genders. February, April, May, June, July, September and November are female. January, March, August, October and December are male. Nobody else I know does that.

I myself see colurs, genders or descriptions associated to words / letters / numbers in my head.

Pretty much. I've seen that the lower the notes are, the darker they get and the higher the notes, the more bright the colors are. A bass drum invokes an image of a huge gray (almost transparent) bubble popping in a gray goop while a flute invokes a picture of white sharp projectiles shooting out of nowhere.

personally I don't exactly find it fun - it's just there - always has been. It's fun to talk to other synaesthetes about it though -especially in actual time. on the down side - a lot of people just don't get it - or think it's some kind of free 'acid trip' - which it isn't. I think it's a useful tool for remembering things / learning languages etc and I imagine the world would be very dreary without it - but having said that I do get sensory overload from it and that can really annoy me as it limits places I can go and still feel comfortable - certain tones of voice can stay with me all day if they are particulaly 'big' - I once spent an entire day trying to get 'a big purple cloud' ( a woman's voice that i heard one morning) out of my head - yuuurhhg!!

On the up side though it is no longer classed as a 'disease' or 'malady' but rather, a kind of fascinating gift.