Sound-to-Sight Synaesthesia

[tone303]

Anyone have Syanesthesia? I was born with it & saw music as colored texture since as long as i could remember. Although Synaesthesia is a vague mind's eye thing rather than vivid + literal sight; I cant imagine what it would be like to not perceive an associated colored-texture from a musical tone. I would call it "vague" rather than "vivid" but a fix thing, a sound will always have the same color & texture no matter what.

Yes, white noise is actually white. and yes sawtooths are abrasive in texture whereas a pure sine is the only sound that has no texture. Thats how i preceived it as a child before i even knew the terms like whitenoise. Some sounds are more easily perceivable than others, so if i were to name some of the strongest synaesthesia's I would say, a raw uneffected 303 is unmistakibly red & light red, a pizzicato is always green and shaped like drops, kicks are always dark brown to black, hats are always white, white-silver if more resonant. ...

Although I have this im not really that good of a music maker, nor put that much time into it, and would consider myself far better at listening than making. Ive probably spent 1/20th the time on music composing that most others here have. last thing i did is old, a weird formant track called Propinquity (embedded player) http://180upload.com/eqlmoxlmo0jy

Anyone, anyone have synaesthesia? & if so could you add comments about synaesthesia?

[vurt]

i dont see white noise as white. i see it as flashes of colours.
for most things i see coloured cogs locking together and turning.
i acquired it in my teens after some heavy acid sessions, or at least thats when i first really noticed it. its more of a frequency thing for me, so if i play sines i get different shades or different coloured cogs depending on the frequencies involved, if i switch to saws at the same frequencies the shades and colours dont change.
a 303, a guitar, a violin or any instrument at 440hz will be the same colour.

[Jace-BeOS]

Thanks for sharing these things. i find this fascinating and sort of wish i had it. i have some other symbolic exchanges going on in my mind (like situations having colors and categories being colored, but they're not really actual colors, concepts/categories being like blocks etc), but synesthesia has always fascinated me (probably because i always knew there were weird things about my own neurology, heh).

[vurt]

Thanks for sharing these things. i find this fascinating and sort of wish i had it. i have some other symbolic exchanges going on in my mind (like situations having colors and categories being colored, but they're not really actual colors, concepts/categories being like blocks etc), but synesthesia has always fascinated me (probably because i always knew there were weird things about my own neurology, heh).

there was a theory put forward that were all born with synaesthesia, that due to neurological connections not being formed yet all babies are getting messed up sensory perceptions for the first few weeks of life, from tasting sounds to seeing smells and so on, while the brain organises itself.
some people due to circumstance will make different connections, so it remains in them.
i suppose it helps explain why babies are screaming all the time!

[Touch The Universe]

You say white noise looks white, are you implying that someone with synastasia named it 'white', or rather that all people with this sort of senses percieve color the same way or is it moreso random, people will see colors arbitrarily to sounds with synastasia and not the same.

[vurt]

You say white noise looks white, are you implying that someone with synastasia named it 'white', or rather that all people with this sort of senses percieve color the same way or is it moreso random, people will see colors arbitrarily to sounds with synastasia and not the same.

different people see different things, its not a one size fits all thing.

[vurt]

its called white noise because it contains all the frequencies, same as white light contains all the frequencies of the colour spectrum.

[fmr]

My perceiveness of sound do not involve colours, but then, I am daltonic, so even colours are not perceived by me as by the majority of people

That said, I don't think Syanesthesia is good or bad, and people perceiving sounds as colours, or associating sounds to colours have more or less aptitude, musically speaking.

I see it as I see daltonism, or people being left-handed or ambidexterous. It's a deviation from the majority, but that doesn't make people better or worse, just different.

Sometimes, some of these differences can ve disadvantageous, since the world is built for the majority, and left-handed have problems with hand writing, since the writing was created as a system from left to right (I know there are places where this is different) perhaps because it suits better the right handed. Other than that, it basically doesn't matter.

[vurt]

indeed, i wouldnt say its either helped or hindered me in any way. its just something thats there.

[stonestreet]

I do not see things with sound, I feel things. I am not talking emotion. Some sounds make it feel like my chest is being squeezed. Unfortunately in general the feelings I get are not pleasant.

I once heard a Terrance McKenna talk and he mentioned indigenous tribes taking Ayahuasca (just looked up the spelling) and the users would sing songs and these songs would trigger visual imagery in them and they would talk about it after their session.

Laters.

[tone303]

its called white noise because it contains all the frequencies, same as white light contains all the frequencies of the colour spectrum.

I know that, thats WHY it looks white in syanesthesia

because its all the freqs like white is all the color spectrum

Synaesthesia is objective. I know people can reply and say its subjective all they want but its an actual objective true fixed perception

every sound is always the same color no matter what, its forced on me, not imaginative, i preceive it like i see this text is black - its a FORCED fixed thing

i KNOW the reason why white noise is called white is because of exactly what you said -- and i should have typed that to avoid confusion -- my point is that the Synathesia is correct, it shows the sounds as the colors would be if they were colors

its an actual objective true perception. Of course ill get replies denying this even though i already know this is true and the case is closed, since every sound mataches what it would be, and since the color gets brighter shade with higher cut freq.

If anyone doesnt like theres a such thing as it and an objective component to it, then, i dont know, psychological denial, if you had it, you would see its an objective perception function of the brain and nothing at all like tripping or something subjective.

[tone303]

Unfortunately people thought I didnt know why white noise was called white, because i said it was actually white.

The real case is that ive known since i was a teenage that whitenoise is called white because its a mix of all the spectrum just like white is a mix of all the color spectrum

sorry for not mentioning that the reason why its called white -- AND -- that its actually white to all people with synaestheia -- are two separate things. I know, confusing.,

[vurt]

Unfortunately people thought I didnt know why white noise was called white, because i said it was actually white.

The real case is that ive known since i was a teenage that whitenoise is called white because its a mix of all the spectrum just like white is a mix of all the color spectrum

sorry for not mentioning that the reason why its called white -- AND -- that its actually white to all people with synaestheia -- are two separate things. I know, confusing.,

i was answering the question asked above my post.
its you that is confusing two seperate things.

and no, not all people see white noise as white.

[vurt]

If anyone doesnt like theres a such thing as it and an objective component to it, then, i dont know, psychological denial, if you had it, you would see its an objective perception function of the brain and nothing at all like tripping or something subjective.

who said t was anything "like tripping"?
no body said theres no such thing?

did you actually read any of the posts including your own?


but now you say the colour depends on a frequency, but earlier you said a 303 is red, at what frequency is it red?

[deastman]

I've never really given it much thought, but I do get vague visual impressions from sounds. They pretty much match up with what Tone303 described. I always assumed true synesthesia was much more vivid than the subtle, difficult to describe imagery I've always associated with sounds. Also, I see white noise more like static on a TV screen- very active.

I do have to take exception with claims of objectivity, however. Perception is inherently subjective, regardless of how consistent and involuntary yours might be.