Have you ever seen colors in numbers? Or suddenly you can taste something delicious in words? Or the most bizarre yet interesting one, have you ever listened to a specific song yet all you see is colors? If you experience these type of things, it means you have synesthesia.

         The word synesthesia comes from two Greek roots, syn (together) and aesthesis (perception). It can be translated into “perceive together” as well. So synesthesia is a condition where one sense, for example hearing, is perceived together by one or more senses such as sight. In short, you experience one of your senses through another sense, and it can involve any of them.

         People who have synesthesia are called synesthetes. Those people normally experience colored letters and numbers. It is when a synesthete sees a certain color regarding a certain letter of alphabet or number. For example, they might see the alphabet B as orange, or number seven as sky blue. There are also other combination of senses such as people who taste something in response to hearing, smells something in response to sight, and so on.

         Normally synesthesia begins in childhood then it develops over time. Anyone can have synesthesia, but studies state that about 1-4% population in this world have it. Doctors are not sure what causes synesthesia, but one thing for sure is that it runs in family, meaning it is in your genes. Synesthesia is not a disease or disorder either; it is a neurological phenomenon and it will not affect let alone harm your health. Some studies even suggest that a person with synesthesia might be great on memory and intelligence tests.

         So next time you see an object and suddenly a color pop up into your mind, maybe you have synesthesia.

Sources:

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html

https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-synesthesia

Picture source:

http://fashionclassroom.com/images/content/blog/synesthesia-10.jpg