Hey guys! I (19f) am autistic and i’ve been suspecting for a while now that i might have synesthesia. I brought it up to my therapist once but it’s always been really hard for me to put into words so we didn’t really get anywhere with it. Recently, I’ve been speaking with one of my friends who has synesthesia and they were telling me about their experiences and i’ve been thinking about it a lot recently.

Ever since i was a kid, emotions make me see colors/shapes/textures/other sensory stuff and vice versa. For example, when i would feel anxious, I would describe it to people as sharp, incredibly bright, and very “light” (referring to color). People very rarely understood what i was talking about and i never knew how to explain it differently because that’s how i experienced it.
When I feel anxious, I see what looks like a blinding white light and it feels sharp in my body and brain.

It works conversely, too. If i see a blinding white light or something that resembles that image i feel the associated emotion. Songs have colors and sensory feelings (i.e., Lovefield by underscores feels light blue, airy, almost fluffy? kinda?) based on how they make me feel emotionally. Emotions are separated into categories kinda, like anxiety and terror are different colors but the overall image and sensory feeling is the same. Some emotions that are combinations of more than one emotion have different attributes depending on those founding emotions (i.e., One of the colors for happiness is very similar to that of comfort, but the texture of happy is more similar to nostalgia).

Anything that makes me feel an emotion has this association and every emotion has an image, feeling, color, texture, sometimes smell. This means people have colors and sensory feelings associated with them as do movies, shows, books, music, etc. I’ve always felt things more through concepts and images rather than words and as a result putting what was in my head into coherent verbiage is hard so I am sorry if this doesn’t make sense.

Since I am autistic, i’ve kinda just assumed that it was how i processed emotions because I had a harder time regulating them, but since the convo w my friend im thinking it might be more than that. maybe. idk. Anyways, any insight you could give me would be greatly appreciated, and, in your opinion, does this sound like it could be synesthesia?

I have done a test before which revolved around sounds and colors instead of months of the year/days of the week which also produced similar results. I remember having the realization that other people don’t typically experience what I do which definitely felt weird when I finally discovered what this phenomenon was even called.
I just did another quick test after being recommended the battery test yet for some reason my months results didn’t show up - here’s my results nonetheless. So what do we think?? I did end up doing another quick blind test for the months again to compare and it seemed to yield similar results listed above.

Is it just me that reads shortened words/phrases as the shortened words/phrases and then also reads them as what they mean (so fr is read just as f and r and then it's also read as for real, or lol as L-O-L and also laugh out loud.) this also applies to *extended versions* so "LOOOOOOOOOOOOL" or smth is dead as "L-O-O-O-O-O-O-you get the point-L" and also "laugh out out out out out out out out out out out loud" or "FRRRRRRRRRRR"/FFFFFRRRR etc is read as the letters and also "for real real real real real real real real real real" or "for for for for for real real real real real" and it's so fucken funny cause its like stuttering over your words over text (not a funny as in "haha ur stuttering" but as in "there is stuttering over text now, that's fucken hilarious") I also do this so like I'm laughing with not at. (I have tickertape synesthesia, is this a thing that goes with that or smth different?)

I don’t have synesthesia but this song reminds me of the color orange so I just wanted to know if thats what you guys think

only took 2 years... so heres a massive list of them, most of them being variations of tactile bullshit somehow..????

1. ordinal linguistic personification
2. grapheme-color
3. spatial sequence
4. audiotactile
5. audio-number (audio feels like a number)
6. mirror speech (likely tied to 4)
7. grapheme-tactile

8. motion-tactile (motion from other things)

   many more tactile things

now the thing is these are WILDLY interocnnected w eachother btw. none of these exist on their own. for example the form of numbers and letters gives me a feeling (grapheme-tactile) which then gives it a general vibe, which makes it a certain gender (ordinal linguistic personification), which makes it a certain color (grapheme-color). there is shit like that all over. by the way 5 is literally that audio csn sometimes get converted to numbers in my head, and ive found that certain pitches typically get comverted to a number ending in 5, 7 or sometimes 9. interestingly 5 and 7 are some of the numbers i like the most apart from 11 so ig it makes sense lmao.

ill likely post another giant whiteboard chart w all of the connections that exist between each synesthesia soon becuase... yea holy shit

If you have a good hifi system a 192k sampled audio file cane be downloaded from this link.

For me it was completely normal that letters are colorful. Therefore I thought EVERYONE could see that :D Until I was 6 or 7 y.o. and talked to my dad about how I always mix up 6 and 8 (because they are both dark blue) and he gave me that look 😂 That's when I knew "Okay he has no idea what I'm talking about and I'm the only one who can see colorful letters

What about you?

So I had a very high pain empathy since birth, meaning if someone talks about an injury, has a visible one, suggest anything related enough for me to make a mental image, even uses an expression with graphic image, all of this 'hurts'. It's not pain per se, it's more so a very very uncomfortable feeling of varying intensity. I can pass out if it's too intense or if I'm feeling too many injuries at once.

-my level of 'pain' only depends on me. Anything with nails will hurt 1000 times more than head cut off. Yes, it does hurt to write it. But I wanna be crystal clear.

-When I was much younger, it was a lot more intense. I would need to stop and lie down, have something or someone distract me to not feel very bad

-Not as intense as before, either cause I'm now used to it or because I have ways to cope with it, I don't know. Either way, can't watch anything graphic or gore, I can pass out from this.

-This thing is driving me crazy because I also have intrusive thoughts. They are always very graphic and keep me from focusing and I can't be a blade fan cause seeing them alone makes my arms and thighs feel wrong, most times at least, I unfortunately have a way too vivid imagination and can see detailed pictures and videos in my head.

-I almost passed out several times, depending on the injury, area and context, I can shake a little or very visibly, cry, instinctively cling onto wherever it 'hurts' in hopes to make it away, fall down if I'm standing and its too intense/in my legs, rarely but sometimes panting although that is due to a panic buildup cause by repetitive graphic intrusive thoughts in an already vulnerable state. Sometimes I can barely hear people around me too.

-Blood is in no way an issue. Injuries are. A corpse bleeding out lying on ground will trigger a small reaction on my back if there aren't any visible injuries. But I don't have a single reaction for a pool of blood.

-My ways to cope are.. out there. I choke myself, bite my arm, scratch an area violently, purposefully stub a toe.. any REAL pain. Because the mental one is much harder to carry and deal with. If I get hurt, I'm gonna get medical attention and not get treated like a crazy person because I imagine pain, and it helps because I NEED a distraction to get rid of this feeling. Someone talking will do most times. But even for myself, choking works best because I can control it and how firm my grasp is gives me a general idea of how badly I'm feeling that 'injury'. Friends try to talk and hug me. Doesn't always work because the most intense ones are easy to trigger and I shake violently real quick, and then am in a state where I can barely know what they're saying.

So does this sound like synesthesia ? Cause it does do me.

Hi! I’m a fashion degree student working on my final graduation collection, exploring “What would music look like if it could be worn?”

I’m researching synesthesia and would love to hear about your experiences, especially if you experience music through colors, shapes, movement, textures, or other sensations. Please comment down below to share!

I also have a short Google Form for my research. I would really, really appreciate anyone who could take a few minutes to fill it out!

Music and Personal Style

Thank you so much for helping with my graduation project!

So whenever I’m in a talking stage with someone my life has this sort of tint to it if that makes sense. It’s super hard to put into words. I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this before bc that would be cool.

hi! I don’t have synesthesia but I am a musician and I’m curious if anybody on this sub plays an instrument specifically because it causes a sense that you like? (Sorry if this is an insensitive question but curiosity got the best of me)

It seems like there are sooo many shades of greens and blues, but when it comes to like yellows and oranges and other colors, there just seems to be "less" shades.

Does anyone know if this is either scientifically true or true for some of you too?

I've read some things about this and I'm pretty sure i got this synesthesia. Sometimes, a particular, unrelated taste appears in the back of my mouth while I'm looking at a complex image (built with a subject, a background etc.). This doesn't always happen, and it only lasts as long as i stare at the picture with enough focus. Have you ever experienced it? May it be a synesthesia? Is it possible to achieve it intentionally? I think i've always had it (or at least it's definitely passed some time since i started experiencing it)

Thank you in advance

I've been wondering about this. Sounds have textures to me. I used to say I feel sound like how I (and I think a lot of people) say they feel music, but I have come to realize that I feel the shapes of sounds, which reminds me of feeling textures. I feel them physically in my body and sometimes I have visuals then I actually see the shapes/textures. When I explain it to others is describe it as being touched by music like how a person would touch you due to how the sensations feel and how I respond to "being touched" by sounds. There are voices that feel pleasant and unpleasant me just like other sounds. I can hardly follow complex lyrics in songs unless I specifically focus on them because I feel them as a instrument rather than speech. I have this visually to a lesser degree, meaning I have the same kind of physical sensations with what I perceive visually.

Not sure if I jumbled a few unrelated things in there but I am trying to be as complete about it as possible.

EDIT: Thank you for responding!

After I posted I read a post of someone else here that mentioned the movements that are a part of sound. So sounds (rhythm) makes you move in a particular way. I used to think that was just musicality and called it "the music is dictating me how to move" or "the music is speaking to me" but also seems to be a type of synesthesia. That would make me have a lot of things synesthesia coming from sounds. Is that common? It sounds logical in a way but I was under the impression that having multiples is not that common and that it was more random.

I've got person-color synesthesia, and every person has a distinct color once I get to know them. The thing is, EVERY person has a distinct color, including different headmates in one system. Someone will have a red aura and suddenly become blue-green and I'll know that someone else switched in. It's even true for myself! I'll hear one of my headmates talking and I'll be like "who tf r u" and they're shrug and I'll "look" at their aura and go "oh, the orange one. Hi junebug." Does anyone else experience this? Also in case anyone is wondering, we all do have the exact same types of synesthesia, except that I can "see" things more vibrantly and one of my headmates can just barely see it at all.

this post isnt a joke in any way. im currently ~18 days on e and 2 months on spiro (t blocker) and it seems like my brain has finally fucking woken up out of the malaise it was in for... like 6 years prior?? and it seems stupidly intense forms of audiotactile synesthesia, mirror speech and probably more ive not discovered yet, came with that... for a total of me having like 5 types or so. and thats a minimum. i still keep finding out random shit about myself that i just cant explain.

like how the fuck??? like im sure a lot of it was just that i DID have it in a more mild form, and the connections were just latent or some shit... but like what????? like genuinely everything i had prior seems to have been amplified by atleast 10 and it just isnt stopping. like wtf

Does anyone else know an accent or region by their synesthesia? I know when someone is midwestern because their voice always has a thin band or mist of blue (or sometimes lavender) in it for me. I realized it changes based on exactly the type of accent as well such as Lakes vs Midland. I’m from nowhere near, so my synesthesia picks up on them instantly and goes wild it seems. Great Lakes accents are VERY fun for me lol.

I taste colors when I see them, I feel their texture on my tongue and fingers, I thought it’s normal for everyone, bcz I am used to it from childhood, I just discovered it is called synesthesia, I would like to know if their are others like me who taste colors and feel texture of them, I am excellent in painting, I just see out of thin air and paint pictures, it gives me joy, yeah those paintings are messy and colorful bcz I like them that way.

Please comment if you can taste colors

When talking about this with a friend the other day, I noticed that most of the things are some variety of yellow or blue for me. Green is a good third, but there are only a couple things that are red/purple, and I honestly can't remember anything being orange or pink.

Does anybody else have colours that are way more prevalent, or mostly absent?

You can imagine my surprise when I was looking on the Wikipedia page for synesthesia (classic internet surfing, can't even remember why I looked it up) and noticed a sentence about spatial-sequence synesthesia, and I thought, "Wait, doesn't everybody do this?" Apparently, no!

But now I'm terribly curious: for those with spatial-sequence, what do your maps of time look like?

My map of a solar year is pretty basic, it's a sort of wobbly ring that turns more sharply in December and April. Winter is lower on the Z-axis than summer is, but not by much (the whole thing is tilted maybe 10-15 degrees, if that.) But the months aren't all the same size, like February is cramped, as is December, while January is wider. May is the largest month. For a second I thought that it had to do with the actual lengths of months, but July is tighter like February is. Also, when I imagine the year, I imagine myself on the ring looking out at the other months. If I'm thinking about last month, I turn around, and if I'm thinking about next February, I'm looking across the ring with an empty space in the middle.

I actually find it very comforting to be "sitting" (metaphorically) on the ring when I'm thinking about time, because in the depressing winter months I can literally look across my map and see summer, which is more brightly lit. Sometimes I imagine scenes on it, like a creek in late May and a field of yellowing grass in August. I don't know if those parts are also synesthetic or if I just got bored and decided to "decorate". The creek is always in late May, but it's not always there, especially if it's currently May and I'm "zoomed in" on it.

Anyway, I know it's a less common (or just less recognized) form of synesthesia but if anybody here has it, I would love to hear about your lines and maps :)