Does listening to music cause you to see colors? And do those colors change as the notes change? If you experience this, you have something very special in common with Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, something called ‘synaesthesia.’
Synaesthesia happens when something that normally stimulates one sense, such as hearing music, stimulates another sense, such as sight. Over 60 different types of synaesthesia have been identified. The connection of seeing and hearing is called chromaesthesia.
Having studied music as a child and experiencing chromaesthesia all his his life, Kandinsky often sought to paint music he heard. In particular he was inspired by the music of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg.
Supposedly only about 4% of people experience some kind of synaesthesia, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the number is much higher, and that most people have either just don’t notice it happening or their brains have turned it off as their sensory skills developed along more narrow lines. How about trying to some sensory experiments of your own to find out what a sound, color, smell, taste, or touch might make you see, hear, taste, feel, or smell?!
