Some
synesthetes find it difficult to specify what their concurrent is, as it seems
to be made up of multiple perceptions and sensations at the same time. The
concurrent sometimes even just consists of a powerful “feeling” or “vibe”,
which is automatic and consistent but practically impossible to describe.
Here are some descriptions written by people who have this kind of experience:
"My syn is a
bit particular. Like, first, I have grapheme colour and personification, and
also sound to colour and movement of shapes. But if I just kind of let go the
sort of mental walls that I create, I start to feel that all my senses come
together, it is like all my perceptions mix in one unique process, and every
stimulus makes me perceive complex sights, and feel a wave of physical
sensations that take the form of coloured shapes in movement inside me and on
my skin (not exactly that, but kind of). It feels a bit like the fingers on a
guitar string let go, and the string can finally vibrate completely."
(Source:
This comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2022.)
“Half the
colors I associate with numbers aren’t really colors. Their whole complicated
mess just happens to share a vibe with a color.”
(Source: This comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2022.)
"For as long as I can remember, I can "smell" months, seasons, and weather patterns, as well as associate colors with them and get feelings from them. I do not have to currently be in a month/season/weather pattern to experience this sensation; even just thinking about them can cause it. As an example; April smells like green which is dirt to me, and feels open and unending to me.
I'm not sure how else to explain it; it makes so much sense to me but does not make sense to others."
(Source: This post on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2021.)
"Is there a term for when Audio, Visual, and Tactile are all combined?
I’m not exactly sure how to define mine, everything just kind of meshes together in various forms by associating in my mind, I guess the best way to put it is that everything gives off “vibes”, or certain patterns and tones when in my head, including more complex things like equations, and everything is kind of “manipulated” by mental hands, and a lot of things can be represented on different parts of my body, like how certain trains of thought are in the lower right part of my mouth."
(Source:
This post on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2021.)
“I think a good example for me would be any song by Kimya Dawson? She has a kind of desaturated, pinkish plum coloured voice and I feel it on my nose and the bottom ridges of my eyes. Sometimes, when her songs get more ‘white’ I feel it on my sternum as well.”
(Source:
This comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2019.)
“There is something sensory I detect with voices done by voice actors that I recognize. It isn't strictly a color or taste or shape but a "vapor" of all three. It's hard to explain. Voices always have a shape to them to me, but it's not a discernable shape. Like I couldn't tell you. It's some weird sense I see/taste/feel in a combined way. The color and taste are more vapor/indistinct but definitely still there. I am very good at identifying voice actors for this reason.”
(Source:
This comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2022.)
What could this be called?
This highly personal and idiosyncratic manner of
perceiving the synesthetic concurrents has never been classified as a type in
itself or been given a name, although there is no doubt that it belongs to the
realm of synesthesia. Here are a few ideas and suggestions for
naming it:
- Multiple
concurrent or mixed concurrent synesthesia. Multi-perception, multi-sensation
or multi-sensory synesthesia.
-
Alternatively, the name of the most prevalent synesthetic experience could be
used, bearing in mind that it is fairly normal for one predominant concurrent
to also be enriched by others that form an indivisible part of it, as that is
how synesthesia commonly manifests.
- Or we
could say that the synesthete in question has several types: to give a very
basic example, if smells make them perceive coloured shapes that are visual and
tactile at the same time, this person could be said to have olfactory-visual
and also olfactory-tactile synesthesia.
More cases / readers' comments: read all the comments on this article here
This page last updated: 12 September 2024
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