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Seeing Sounds: What It’s Like to Live With Synesthesia
An interview with the world’s leading expert on the mysterious condition
Dr. Richard Cytowic knows life is not always black and white. About 40 years ago, the Washington D.C.–based neurologist was having dinner with friends when one told him that when he tastes food or drink, he also feels it in his face and hands. ”Oh, you have synesthesia,” Cytowic replied.
His friend was shocked: “You mean there’s a name for it?”
Synesthesia is a condition where one of a person’s senses — for example, hearing — is also perceived by another, like sight. At the time of Cytowic’s dinner conversation, the phenomenon was recognized among small circles, but there was little research into it and a lot of skepticism. It was that conversation that inspired Cytowic to begin researching, and validating, the condition.
Cytowic says it took nearly 15 years to convince the rest of the scientific community that synesthetes were telling the truth. “I told my colleagues about [my friend], and they said, ‘Well, what does the CAT scan show?’” he remembers. “I said, no, no, no. He doesn’t have a hole in his head. He doesn’t have something missing—he’s got something extra.”
