Synaesthesia
I have this, to a certain extent, in that I "hear" patterns as cyclic rhythms. When I was little, I was always singing wee tunes that were the things I could hear looking at fences, paving slabs, clocks, carpets, or indeed anything with a regular pattern. One particularly good source of material was looking out of the window on car journeys - patterns of fences and telephone poles stood out like sharp glitchy ticks in the bassy rumble of the white lines up the middle of the road. Even now I can still hear (and remember) "tunes" from familiar bits of road.

Of course there's the inevitable downside - on one particular stretch of road (the A82 south of Fort William alongside Loch Linnhe, if you want to look) there was an accident where a car struck a telephone pole. The GPO (for it was before BT were even British Telecom) replaced the pole in a slightly different place. Now, the old poles were precisely measured - the old GPO guys were a bit OCD like that. This one made one beat very slightly out of time with the rest. I hated that bit of road, and I still don't entirely like it. Just that 100 yards, or so.

The poles are long gone.
(gordonjcp, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:02, 19 replies)

Fuuuuck!

( Larry Vest One day at a time, sweet Jesus, FFS., Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:04, closed)

Wow how amazing!

I've never heard of this, just the "seeing sounds" and "tasting words" varients.

When did you find out that you where "different"? :)
(Miquaight Pew pew laser bears, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:05, closed)

Some composers apparently had it
I'm thinking Vaughn-Williams, but I may be wrong
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:10, closed)

and Sibelius
although they couldn't agree on what colour 'meant' what note.
(jennymnemonic, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:27, closed)

Richard D. James* also, I think.
Though he is a well-known tall-story teller so it may be bullshit -- his music makes me think it's true though.
Sadly I don't have the condition myself.
*Known as Aphex Twin, amongst others.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 17:38, closed)

Royksopp did a video like that
where the objects passing by a train window matched the music
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:16, closed)

It was the Chemical Brothers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBgf2ZxIDZk
(silencer, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 15:19, closed)

I was diagnosed with Synaesthesia last year...
I always see a colour when I think of the days of the week and numbers are always coloured in my mind.

I thought I was normal until I mentioned it to my Mrs. I ended up having a battery of tests in the end. Apparently it's actually fairly common affecting about 1 in 23 people though to different extents.

At least it makes maths and diary planning more interesting!
(penrose your dog's got tits, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:24, closed)

Really? I'd have thought you'd have found out long before that!

To be honest I always think it sounds fun! Not sure about those who get tastes though.

Saw a TV show - woman tasted something like soap whenever she thought "phone" (Or some other equally random object)
(Miquaight Pew pew laser bears, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:26, closed)

It's not so much that I didn't kjnow until recently
I always new that I saw colours, I just didn't give it thought and assumed it was normal for everyone. It actually helps sometimes - my mental arithmetic skills are good and according to the psychologist who tested me, people with Synaesthesia can have an advantage in visualising mathematical patterns.

The strange thing is, that people who show the same symptoms as me tend to visualise similar colours.

I'm really glad it's just grapheme-colour Synaesthesia that I have - tasting numbers would just be weird!
(penrose your dog's got tits, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:30, closed)

That bloke had the same thing
numbers would appear as coloured patterns and swirls in his field of vision. He used it to memorise Pi to many thousands of decimal places. A bloke changed one of the digits in Pi, quite a long way down the chain and he could spot it a mile off because it disrupted the pattern.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:27, closed)

I've always thought of numbers as having specific colours too
...and so does everyone else I've ever asked.
Just saying.
(jennymnemonic, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:28, closed)

...? Really?
(Miquaight Pew pew laser bears, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:37, closed)

I've got the variety where sounds have flavours...
Most particulary voices. Some people have very rich chocolatey voices whilst others have more sharp strawberry-flavoured ones. Or someone will have a bit deeper tone and therefore taste a bit of cherries.

It's not like the taste is on my tongue when I hear people talk... more like a 'sensation' somewhere in my head... It's so difficult to explain.
(ohnonotagain It's worse than you thought. I'm Canadian., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 6:02, closed)

Pointless "Me too!" post
Ordinal linguistic personification, though, which is a form of synaesthesia. Only found out that not everyone gives numbers personalities a couple of years ago.
Five is a solid bricklayer type; flat cap and pipe and that. Seven is a bit 'common', while Eight well-to-do and a bit snobbish. And so on.

Then it becomes interesting* in the multiplication tables.
7 X 8 is Eight reluctantly helping Seven reach 56, which is much better than 49. But 49 is a decent place, as it's Seven working with itself. It's a good solid pyramid, but not as good as the slightly lopsided 56.

Five does really good work, though. Bit plain, but functional and there's nothing like a solid, well built 5 X 6(A cottage for Six, an older woman with a flower in her hat), or 5 X 10(A well-sized fort on the way to the castle that is 10 X 10).


Yeah. You'd think I would have found out sooner.

*Might not be interesting.
(TheCastrator, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 16:54, closed)

Sound is colour for me
Every sound; not just music but the noise my keyboard is making as I type this and the whir of the fan and the birds chirping outside and the faint hum of cars going down the street and the translucent daffodil-teal-silver horn of the train a few streets down. Absolutely everything. It can get overwhelming at times, but I can't imagine what life is like for people who don't experience this. Things must be so plain.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 17:25, closed)

Same for me, but only with louder sounds.
Numbers are interesting though, they're shaped like tetris pieces. Adding up in my head is just like the game. The bits slot together to make another shape to which I can add more or subtract. This seemed to develop over a while, so maybe it's just my head's way of making sense outa nansense.
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 17:44, closed)

Not really a habit though, is it?

(The Boy Monders I have ginger bits in my beard., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:14, closed)

The "habit" bit...
... is more that I still do this, 30-odd years later in, in the same places with the same tunes.
(gordonjcp, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 15:44, closed)