Auditory-motor synesthesia

Alternative names could be audio-motor, sound-to-kinetics, auditory-kinetic or auditory-kinesthetic synesthesia

Involuntary body movements triggered by sound might possibly be considered a type of synesthesia, if the specific movements are consistent, idiosyncratic, automatic and provoked by auditory aspects other than rhythm. Dancing, foot-tapping, etc., however automatic, would not fit into this category!

Some people - possibly auditory-tactile synesthetes in all cases - experience involuntary movements of different parts of the body, specific and consistent, in response to certain categories of sounds. These may be either general or musical sounds.

In some cases, it could be considered to bear a relation to lexical-motor synesthesia; alternatively, it could be a component of auditory-tactile synesthesia. Its prevalence is unknown and it appears to be rare, although more cases might be reported in the future.

These descriptions would appear to be consistent with this phenomenon:

"Whenever I hear sounds, mainly music, I feel like I have to move a certain way. Yes, I know it's music. It's supposed to make you dance. But this is different than dancing. These movements aren't dance moves and don't necessarily move to the beat. It's more like, "This sound makes me want to look left. This sound makes me want to open the door with this hand. This sound makes me want to walk around these things instead of going in between them." And so on, and so on. If I don't do the motion I'm "supposed" to do, it feels like holding in a sneeze.

If the song has singing, I immediately try to replicate the body language I perceive them doing. These motions can be as simple as turning my head or uncrossing my legs. This combined with my mirror-speech really makes me feel like I'm "singing" the song. Songs without singing affect me just as much. One song reminds me of running, so I notice my breathing start to become heavier and I have this urge to just take off."

(Source: This post on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2020. In relation to the second part of this description, also see the pages on mirror-speech and mirror-kinetics synesthesia.)

"I'm relating a bit to this. Sounds and music do make me move in specific ways, and I might have sound-touch because I feel parts of my body when I hear music, and I usually move the same part I feel, so they might be associated."

(Source: This comment on the above post on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2020.)

“Whenever I listen to music I can't help but move my fingers, hands and arms in patterns that mimic what the song feels like to me. I can consciously stop doing it after it starts. (…) This isn't something like moving one's hands around mimicking playing a piano when listening to a piano song, rather, percussive, tonal, pitch and tempo fluctuations in songs make me move my hands and fingers.”

“The sensation is indescribable as far as I can tell, but it's somewhere between desire, need, and certainty that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.”

(Source: This post and comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2015 and 2013.)

The following is my own experience. I'm thinking it may be neurological rather than synesthesia-related, but the fact that the parts of my face that move, and how they move, are consistent depending on pitch, key and exact timbre likens it to a synesthesia phenomenon, so it might be best classed as auditory-motor or part of my auditory-tactile. Anyway, I'm just "throwing it out there"!

 “Some sounds in music (usually electronic) cause my face to twitch or twist. There are sounds that affect my eyebrows, my eyelids, my nose or my mouth. The same sound causes the same “tic” or movement and they repeat throughout the song whenever that particular sound occurs, following the same pattern when there’s a sequence. It isn’t pleasant or unpleasant, just curious really. I have to be relaxed and focused on the music for it to happen, with no distractions and preferably in the dark. I can’t recreate the movements unless I’m actually listening to the sounds: they are totally dependent on the music, no conscious process. I can’t move my face like that voluntarily. I made a video of it but I’m not thinking of showing it to anyone.”

(Pau 365, my own experience)

 At least three of these people have auditory-tactile synesthesia. Perhaps this type of motor synesthesia is a variant of auditory-tactile. 

Go to the page on auditory-tactile synesthesia

Go to the page on motor synesthesia in general

Go to the page on lexical-motor synesthesia (words evoke certain actions)

Go to the page on mirror kinetics (involuntary movements on seeing other people move)

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This page last updated: 21 April 2026