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Q. My friends tell me I’m weird because sometimes I see colors or other visual shapes when I hear certain sounds. Am I?
A. We’re all a little weird if you want to use that term, because each brain is as unique as the person’s thumbprint. I prefer to say that human beings are all gifted!
You may be one of the individuals whose brain blends colors and sounds. Synesthesia is the label for this neurological phenomenon involving the blending and coordinating of the senses. Perhaps 1/100,000 has profound synesthesia. These individuals may hear colors and see or taste sounds, if you will. This brain phenomenon tends to be more heightened in creative people and has been associated with incredible powers of memory, perhaps due to increased associations. For example, it has been reported that Vladimir Nabokov had colored hearing, Georgia O’Keefe could see music, and Jerry Garcia noted that musical notes had shape, form, and color.
Dr. Howard Pierce, author of The Owner’s Manual for the Brain - Everyday Applications from Mind-Brain Research, includes synesthesia as a strategy used by creative people throughout history to help them move their minds into more creative realms. Immersing oneself in one of the senses tends to stimulate associations with other senses. For example, low sounds tend to elicit visual images of dark colors; high sounds tend to lead one to images of light, bright colors.
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Sensory Systems 
