Auditory-motor synesthesia: readers’ comments

This page contains all the readers’ comments on the “Auditory-motor synesthesia” article, received since 2022. 

  

.....Comment by: Kim. August 4, 2022 at 1:03 AM

Two women in my family (both of them synaesthetes with different kinds of synaesthesia), involuntarily move their lips while they are being talked to, as if mimicking the other person's words. Is that auditory-motor?

Reply by Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). August 4, 2022 at 10:10 PM

Hi Kim! No, that isn't considered a form of synesthesia.

 

Comment by: Lavender. April 22, 2023 at 6:22 AM

I 100% relate to the first description. It’s like the music controls my movements. but i can stop it. in my hands or whole body. i just have to relax and tune in. i recorded myself doin this with my hands for the first time. like the music flows inside me n trigger movement. different instruments and sounds and vocals all at once.

 

Comment by: Anonymous. August 6, 2023 at 6:38 PM

I have auditory-tactile synesthesia, and this also resonates with me. But it's not totally involuntary. When I'm at home, I'll move the part of my body that's "lighting up," but if I'm with other people or not in an appropriate environment, I can easily stay still.

 

Comment by: Th1x. August 19, 2023 at 4:32 PM

What is going on? this is not something I could describe in a mandated 5 minute doctors appointment with out being laughed at. So I'm asking here. Since a serious head injury I've been able to voluntarily invoke frisson in any body part I want, without any stimulus. With sound or music It's like I'm compelled to reach out and play the air like an instrument, frisson surging as I play. I'm slowly finding motions for instruments, vocals erratic like fire. some sounds prickle between my hands like I'm holding a sleeping hedgehog. Those same movements generate the same sensation in silence. I cannot hear the music or sound just feel it in the air, i'm not even humming along. Newish while watching tv drama I feel the treads of plot in sweeping movements, the threads have thick textures and vibrate almost like colours unseen.

 

Comment by: Anonymous. November 7, 2023 at 11:31 AM

Hey. Wondering if you can shed any light on what I may be experiencing.

Five years ago, I started having symptoms I can only describe as involuntary piano fingers. I don’t play any instrument. The movements were random but a couple of days after the onset of symptoms the movements were in sync with sounds – usually music but other stuff like the sound of suction pumps and hammers clanging. I was going through a stressful time but had never experienced anything similar before, so I saw a neurologist. He couldn’t give me an answer for the piano fingers, but he ran me through some simple tests and to my surprise told me that I had very mild mirror-movement disorder (when I move one hand, the other hand moves ever so slightly). After some months the symptoms disappeared.

Five months ago the piano fingers came back with a vengeance but this time its spread to other parts of my body – neck, scalp, wrists, shoulder, legs and toes. Its audio induced, if I focus I can consciencely stop it, though it comes back when I relax. Very rarely I get a full body spasm while listening to a piece of electronic music I really love, electronic synth sounds are the most triggering – its an incredibly pleasurable experience but sort of weird when it happens on a public bus so I have to be careful. While listening to music I sometimes get a tickling sensation down my left arm – only the left. It’s not frisson, though I get that in abundance as well. In completely quiet environments I get no involuntary movements. It’s cumulative. One example are noisy crowded food courts – I usually have about 15 minutes before I start twitching and have to leg it out of there. In those noisy environments I get a strong mental image of an action like clawing, grasping and tearing – sounds silly, but like I want to tear myself out of my body.

I’m chronically sceptical of just about everything so haven’t ruled out it just being in my head – like a psychogenic movement disorder. I try to ignore it, but it persists. I’ve caught my hands and fingers dancing in the moment just before waking up from a nap while listening to music. It sounds similar to audio-tactile-motor synesthesia but its only started in the last 5 years and have never observed it to be the same movement for the same sound – its like there are all these random movements I might do for the cacophony of daily interactions. I’m in my early 30s and have never had a brain injury that I’ve been aware of. I thought it might be stimming as there are a few neurodivergent people in my family though I’ve never been diagnosed. I think its related to a sensory processing issue. From what I’ve read and experienced though, this doesn’t seem like stimming. Its sometimes annoying, sometimes pleasurable. I’ve always preferred quieter places, so I don’t miss food courts.

Reply by Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). November 21, 2023 at 12:31 PM

Thanks for writing about your case. I must say I'm out of my depth here! Also, it’s often difficult for me to say what should and what shouldn’t be considered auditory-tactile, as there have been few studies on it and quite honestly there are no clear, restricted definitions by leading scientists about what really does and doesn't constitute auditory-tactile syn. And tactile reactions to sound can occur for many reasons. Most of which I'm no expert on! Probably the nearest thing to a definition of auditory-tactile synesthesia could be that it is like unconsciously and consistently categorising sounds in some way, often mainly musical, so the sound of one particular instrument would cause you to feel a specific sensation in a particular part of your body, another instrument would create another type of sensation in another, or perhaps a fast musical tempo would create one tactile reaction, a slower tempo another.

Sudden onset isn’t normally a thing with synesthesia… but something akin to it can happen to some people: a synesthete with a particular type that they experience only weakly might not be aware of it, but when they realise and begin to focus on it, it suddenly gets much stronger. It can sometimes drastically intensify and only become noticeable after some kind of event or episode (I’ve heard of migraine, extreme stress, hyperosmia for hormonal reasons for example, in people who are already synesthetes). Newly-occurring auditory-tactile reactions have also been reported following knocks to the head or other events affecting the brain. You said you weren’t aware of any brain injuries and did mention some stress… perhaps it responds to an event you haven’t quite pinpointed yet, but which existed?

With brain damage the cases reported affected non-synesthetes, but the event-related onsets I’ve mentioned here is for people who are already synesthetes, i.e. have other types. I don’t know if that’s your case. If you’ve never experienced any other types of synesthesia, then it’s unlikely that it could be considered synesthesia, it should probably be considered something else and I hope you find what it is.

But yes, I would tend to agree with what you say about it being related to a sensory processing issue, and perhaps the neurodivergent community and particularly people on the autism spectrum would have lots more useful information on this. It’s interesting that you have this kind of thing in your family, and I agree there may be some kind of connection, yes. Not stimming (correct me if I'm wrong because this isn’t my main field of knowledge but I believe stimming you would have control over and kind of resort to it consciously, while in your case it seems very automatic), but perhaps something that a person knowledgeable about sensory processing disorder, or people who have that, could clarify you on. I'm still not sure about the sudden onset aspect, though, although perhaps someone in that area would know.

 

Comment by: Peter Maloney. June 20, 2024 at 7:45 AM

You know that bouncing karaoke lyric ball? A few years ago, after having traumatic repressed memory recall, my head would involuntarily bounce up/down/side to side to the rhythm of someone’s speech. If someone said a word with four syllables, it would not only move four times, it would exactly match their cadence. So if they had a long drawn out syllable, the movement would progress slowly, and with a quick burst of three syllables, there would be three quick movements, perfectly timed. It was involuntary and seemed exactly in sync, despite me of course not knowing how many syllables were coming and which ones would be quick vs slow. Is this a thing? It’s mostly gone away, but sometimes I’ll notice my head will jerk once in sync when someone has a particularly strong emphasis on a syllable.

Reply by Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). June 25, 2024 at 10:03 PM

Hi Peter! Unfortunately I have to say I have no idea about this at all. Particularly as it's something that's happened at a time of psychological/neurological changes for you, with your repressed memory recall. I don't have any knowledge of what kinds of effects this might have on the brain. As far as synesthesia is concerned - which does sometimes happen after changes such as traumatic brain injury, although it tends to manifest rather differently than the developmental synesthesia that's present from birth - I personally haven't heard of any synesthetes referring this exact thing. I can see its similarity to some of the auditory-motor phenomena mentioned, though. I wonder if it will last or just be a temporary thing. Maybe a neurologist can point you in the right direction. If I hear about anything similar to this I'll get back to you and let you know.

Reply by: Peter. April 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM

Thanks for your response, I’m just now reading this. I asked Chat GPT to do deep research on it and wouldn’t you know it the best it could do was direct me back here!

Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). May 5, 2025 at 9:46 PM

That's hilarious that Chat GPT sent you straight back here! I imagine it's difficult to find many reports of this but I hope that with perseverance you get the information you're looking for.

 

Comment by: Anonymous. July 30, 2024 at 3:43 AM

Listening to violin, i feel the need to close my eyes and I can't help my eyes sliding from side to side like they are part of the bow sliding back and forth over the strings. I also feel as if the the bow is sliding past the right side of my neck at the same time.

It happens with piano as well, each back and forth in time with the keys. I feel each key in my chest (not my heart) thump higher or lower depending on the note. It definitely makes my musical experiences more intense, unfortunately it is only like this with earbuds/phones and with loud, preferably surround sound.

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