I can “see” the sounds of fire alarms as colors. I have synesthesia.
I don’t. I can memorize the pitches of some of them and go back to when I first heard that pitch from that alarm so I can put a place to a pitch but I can’t see any sounds.
[quote]
Housedays Wrote:
I can "see" the sounds of fire alarms as colors. I have synesthesia.
[/quote]
I read the document but I still don’t understand how you can “see” the sounds. Can you explain that to me? I’m so lost… 
I have sound-to-color synesthesia. I perceive all sounds, including fire alarms, as vague shapes. I also have perfect pitch, so the pitch of the sound is always associated with a particular color. The timbre of the sound affects the shape, and often the shade of the color.
For me, it’s:
Ab - magenta/purplish red
A - light grey/white
Bb - blue
B - brown
C - yellow
Db - red
D - dark green
Eb - pink
E - black/dark grey
F - orange
Gb - red
G - bright green
Synesthesia is a neurological condition that is thought to be caused by cross-activation of separate sensory regions in the brain. There are many possible forms of it, with the most common being an association between numbers/letters and colors. Different synesthetes experience it to varying degrees. It seems to be quite prevalent among artists, musicians, and individuals on the autism spectrum. Most synesthetes report it as being pleasurable and a sort of “sixth sense” that enhances their experience of the world.
My synesthesia is less like a hallucination and more like a subliminal “idea” that I consistently associate with a particular stimulus. I don’t really “see” the sounds in front of me like they are actually there. It’s been there since birth, and it’s such a part of my everyday experience that I often forget I have it. It plays a huge role in the way I perceive and create music, though. I would speculate that I experience a lot more positive affect and artistic inspiration from sounds than non-synesthetes do. When I was a kid, I thought that everyone experienced their senses this way. I didn’t discover it was a condition until I stumbled across it online years ago.
Yes. I do the same thing.
That must make writing songs easier… you could look at a piece of art and hear music to it!
Unfortunately, I don’t even have perfect pitch.
I have perfect pitch too! I am a musician. But it’s cool to hear that you can see the sounds! I’ve never heard of that and I think it’s so cool!!!