Norman Mailer described Marilyn Monroe as having, "a displacement of the senses that others take drugs to find."
"I hear a note by one of the fellows in the band and it’s one color. I hear the same note played by someone else and it’s a different color," Duke Ellington once said. Vladmir Nabokov described the number 5 as being red.
The list of famous folks, past and present (Billy Joel, Lady Gaga and Kanye West have all alluded to their unique ability), who hear colors, see sounds, taste sights and so on is endless. This phenomenon is called "synesthesia," or a combining of the senses.
It's one of those things that prove perception is all in our head and has little to do with what is being observed — kind of like how your red isn't my red, or your "white and gold" is my "black and blue," or how Van Gogh had the unique ability to see turbulence where most people, including most scientists, can't.
I'd learned of this strange phenomenon in a neurology class in college, but I only realized it was quite so common when my friend turned to me one day and said, "You know how when you hear words, you see shapes and colors?"
To which I responded, "Um, no." He went onto describe how every letter, name, and person has a color or a symbol. I then told him that what he was describing sounded like synesthesia. After a quick Google search, he agreed.
My friend had no idea that the way he interacted with the world was completely different than that of most people!
There's a lot more to synesthesia than hearing colors and seeing sounds. Watch the video below to learn more about how it works.
SHARE if you're now wondering if you know anyone with synesthesia!
