The term “synesthesia” is based on the Greek word: “synaísthésis”, composed of “syn” = together and “aísthésis” = perception. Therefore synesthesia means “perceiving together” and in the psychology of perception it describes the abilities of a relatively small group of people, the so-called “synesthetes”.

For synesthetes the immediate stimulation of a certain perception (hearing, taste, sight, smell, touch) inevitably leads to a parallel triggering of another sense, and rarely even to multiple heterogeneous reactions of senses. Both, or all, affected modalities of sense are perceived at the same time. This means they are perceived holistically integrated and therefore in “real” unity.

In 2014 this phenomenon was the focus of my diploma thesis “Visual Communication” at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld, Germany. The work resulted in a scientific discourse about a fascinating manifestation of human perception in words and living pictures.