What is Synesthesia?

Maybe you are thinking "WTH is Synesthesia?" Most people have never heard of it, even some people who have it don't know what it is.

So what is it?

Here are some definitions:

Synesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.

Confused? how about this one:

Synesthesia: sensation produced at a point other than or remote from the point of stimulation, as of color from hearing a certain sound.
An involuntary joining in which the real information of one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense.

Still confused?

Synestheisa: A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

Or

Synesthesia is considered by many to be a disorder characterized by the crossing of the senses. To be more precise, stimulating one sense causes the stimulation of another sense

I like that last one.

It's hard to grasp if you don't have it, and it's hard to explain if you do. I will try my best.

People with synesthesia experience things with multiple senses. The more common kind is colored letters and numbers. If i say A is red, does that make sense? It does to me. A is red. B is blue. C is light blue, and D is a dark green. There are many kinds of synesthesia. Synesthetes can "see sounds", "taste words", or "feel color". That might sound absolutely mental, but it gets even stranger. Some see gender, shapes, or even personality.

Synesthesia is involuntary. Synesthetes do not choose what colors they see, what tastes they taste, or the personalities. It comes naturally. If someone asked "What color is grass?" the obvious answer is green. So what is the answer to the question "What color is the sound of a chair leg scraping against a wood floor?". Not so obvious, but to a synesthete it is! (By the way, that sound is sort of a dark orange.)

How many people have it? Well, "estimates for the number of people with synesthesia range from 1 in 200 to 1 in 100,000." That's a big difference. I will just say I realized something was different for me when I was about 9 years old but didn't find anyone else who understood until I was about 20 years old. It wasn't until very recently that I found people who had the same types as me.

I hope that may have answered a few questions. If you are still confused, and I don't blame you, hopefully you will start to understand as I continue to post more about living with Synesthesia.