sound > vision
Some synesthetes have responses to all kinds of sounds. The responses can be stronger for music, or for general sounds. Music triggers more complex visions, as described in the next paragraph, while everyday sounds might have only simple shapes and one color. Some synnies have responses only to music or only to general sounds.
music > vision
This syn type is the most common type, after grapheme -> color synesthesia. "Vision" includes colors, shapes and/or textures. The response depends on many factors, and is different for each synesthete. Most often it's affected by the instruments (a guitar sound might have the shape of a triangle and the piano might sound like a pearl). It also often depends on the pitch of the note (higher notes are almost always brighter and lighter, lower notes are darker). Loudness affects the response as well (louder sounds are usually closer and have bigger shapes). Sometimes it’s the genre of the music that gives the main color to the music (the color of a rock song might be green in general, techno music might have mostly red shades). Often all (or some of) these factors are joined together to create the experience. This type is often described as a kind of abstract art, with more or less blurry shapes that are popping up, moving, and disappearing along with the music.
Often these synnies create artwork that captures their experiences. They play a particular song, or a part of it over and over again, “watch” their responses, and try to capture it as best as possible. Most of them are never satisfied, because the paintings can’t show what they really see. “It is beyond a world with three dimensions”, as a synesthete once said.
Often these synnies create artwork that captures their experiences. They play a particular song, or a part of it over and over again, “watch” their responses, and try to capture it as best as possible. Most of them are never satisfied, because the paintings can’t show what they really see. “It is beyond a world with three dimensions”, as a synesthete once said.
Some synesthetes have colors for instruments, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s music -> vision. The response might not be triggered by the sound, but by the concept of an instrument, so it is classified as concept -> vision syn. These synnies don’t see music, they just associate the concept of instruments with colors. There are also synesthetes with concept maps for instruments, where the instruments are divided into categories (e.g., string instruments on the right, wind instruments in the middle, etc.).
The same dilemma occurs in separating musical note -> color syn from written musical note (grapheme)->color syn (see the next paragraph).
The same dilemma occurs in separating musical note -> color syn from written musical note (grapheme)->color syn (see the next paragraph).
musical note > vision
When the responses to music depend on the pitch, some consider it a syn type of it's own and it's called musical note -> vision, or perfect pitch synesthesia. Most often, synnies with this type of synesthesia have a color associated with the exact pitch of the note. This enables them to (for example) tune their guitar perfectly, not only by hearing, but also by looking at the color of the tone. As the name suggests, these synesthetes have perfect pitch and can be very skilled musically.
Some synesthetes have colors for musical notes and other musical symbols which are not triggered by the sound, but their semantic meaning (e.g. treble clef might be red, F might be green). This is a form of grapheme -> color synesthesia (here, musical notes are graphemes, fundamental units of written [or sheet] music).
Some synesthetes have colors for musical notes and other musical symbols which are not triggered by the sound, but their semantic meaning (e.g. treble clef might be red, F might be green). This is a form of grapheme -> color synesthesia (here, musical notes are graphemes, fundamental units of written [or sheet] music).
voice > vision
There are synesthetes who only have responses for voices, which indicates how important voices are to a human being. Associators with this syn type usually have only a color (and sometimes a texture) for a voice, and they see them in their mind's eye when hearing or remembering the voice. Projectors often describe a colored mist or breath that is coming out of the mouth of the person who is talking. Sometimes, laughter or whispers have slightly different hues than normal speech.
ticker tape
Some people see every word they hear on a "screen" in front of them, or in their mind's eye. This is called ticker tape synesthesia. It is helpful in that the person can (usually) remember the exact words that are said, because they don't only hear them, but also read them at the same time. It's as if their brain is constantly spelling, which is one of the reasons why these synesthetes tend to have a big vocabulary and great spelling skills. Ticker tape can be affected by foreign languages, accents, or incorrect pronunciation. For synesthetes with grapheme->color, these words might also have the correct colors, but this is not necessarily the case. For synesthetes with voice->color, the words might be in the color of the voice. Ticker tape can also be present for lyrics. For music->color synesthetes who also have this form, it's one part of the whole image they see.
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