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Has anyone experianced Synesthesia?

To be more specific Auditory Synesthesia, from what I understand it is quite rare. At least when it isn't induced by hallucinogenics or other narcotics.

For those of who don't know what it is, it is basically a swapping of sensory perception. Like tasting sound, hearing colors and so on. As you may have guessed I can, at times, (not always, it's not some superpower) see sound traveling through the air like 3D ripples propagating in water...... A gift? I'm not so sure, it can make driving quite difficult when it kicks in.

However it has brought me to where I am today.....

Upon reflection I think it is a lot like A.D.H.D. (which I also have) - not a disease. You see, if control is learned or achieved over A.D.H.D., you can function on a different level than most.

My A.D.H.D (after mastering it's quirks) has made my life easier. By design A.D.H.D. makes your brain work at high speeds, hence the trouble children have with it. I found that if I could process the high speed information coming in, I could use it just as fast. Something I'm teaching my son to do now, hopefully saving him the problems I had adjusting as a child.

Like I said it is not a disease, in fact I believe it is a gift.

I just hope the Synesthesia can be just as useful. So let me know what you think..... disease or gift? Any extra information on this condition (Synesthesia) would be greatly appreciated.

Also I'd like to add that I am not an audio genius or anything, just like the A.D.H.D., you have to know what to do with the information coming in.

Andrew
Synesthesia Studios
dynami28
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,581 posts
 
I think I may have experienced it once, when a youngster at school. Someone had thrown an apple at me and I put up my foot to block it and with the aid of adrenalin, everything went into super slow motion and there were ripples emanating from my foot along with the apple pieces.

The super slow-mo was due to the adrenalin rush but the ripples left me wondering. It may have been the sound coming out visually as a side effect.

Do you think that maybe due to your job and the inherent danger, the amount of adrenalin you experience is higher than normal and at a more constant rate? This may be a result of your conditioning but not the only one as the piano teacher mentioned lived a relatively sedate life (I would imagine).

Food for thought.

All the best,
Nonoise
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,879 posts
 
When i was a child, i was fascinated by records playing and learned to make accurate predictions of variaions in sound heard by studying the modulation in the record grooves. For example, i could place the needle in the correct location to hear a certain portion of a song i had heard prior. I can still do it to some extent but am not as wellpracticed these days. This was more an exercisd in cognitive association of patterns than what i understand synesthesia to be though.
gammajo's avatar
gammajo
844 posts
 
Andrew, There is a great book by brain scientist Oliver Sacks, called Musicophilia that discusses synthethesia in great variety and detail - evidently it is much more common than thought. He also describes the power of music and many other interesting things about music that I did not know.
Just ignore the hostile idiots you encounter along the Audiogon way - they are a minority and not worth the energy.
dynami28 OP
55 posts
 
01-04-13: Gammajo, It's nice to be reminded that the world isn't as hostile as I sometimes see it, thanks, that means a lot. And the reference to Oliver Sacks is much appreciated, I intend to follow up on that right away! And I was just about to post a comment like "I know you are but what am I?" It's a good thing I read your post first, I almost fell into the bickering little children's trap! Whew!

Thanks Again,
Andrew
Synesthesia Studios
gammajo's avatar
gammajo
844 posts
 
Andrew. Glad I could help. Let me know what you think of the book - I think is is required audiophile reading and added greatly to my pleasure in appreciating music!
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