Synaesthesia – hearing colors and seeing sounds
I was listening to an interview of the classical pianist Hélène Grimaud who just released her new album. This beautiful and talented woman who has been living in the US since 1991 (she now speaks french with a slight american accent) is besides her talent known for her unusual capacity known as synaesthesia.
She is able to see sounds as colors. Thus, music projects her into a particular color-world.
Sinaesthetes like her also see numbers and letters associated to some colors.
People like this must really live in a world of their own. Their perception of the world must be demultiplied when they are a child and the flow of information that no one from the outside can interpret and relate must be quite disturbing.
Hélène Grimaud as a child was gifted, but also what we would call today hyperactive. Her parents tried to canalize her energy into different activities: sports, dance etc… but her energy was mostly mental and emotional and she got grabbed by music.
