Hearing-motion synesthesia

Synaesthesia is a fascinatingly strange neurological condition in which two ore more senses are linked so that someone, for example, might "taste" sounds or "hear" colors. Now, researchers have confirmed a new kind of synaesthesia where individuals "hear" motion. In experiments conducted at the California Institute of Technology, synaesthetes heard beeps or taps when presented with visual flashes. From Scientific American Mind:
“I think of these people as having an enhanced soundtrack in life,” (neuroscientist Melissa) Saenz says. Her team is conducting brain-imaging studies to try to tease out the roots of that soundtrack as well as how a typical brain combines visual and auditory signals to improve perception.
Hearing-motion synaesthesia (SciAm Mind)

Previously on BB:
Synaesthete's taste for music
Technological synaesthesia
Synesthete psychics

show full bio

David Pescovitz

Collector of anomalies, esoterica, and curiosities.

Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.