Synesthesia and sensitive ears

I have a confession to make. I have synesthesia. Or at least a rather mild form of this neurological condition. According to Cleveland Clinic (because I’m not a doctor and I experience only one form of synesthesia), “synesthesia is when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously. Some examples include tasting words or linking colors to numbers and letters. It’s not a medical condition, and many people find it useful to help them learn and remember information.” (Cleveland Clinic, “Synesthesia”, my.clevelandclinic.org) Whenever I hear songs in certain musical keys, I associate them with a certain color. Like when I hear songs in the key of F Major, I see the color pink. When I was listening to this song called “Last Worthless Evening” by this singer named Don Henley I just saw the color pink. I don’t know how to explain it, but it just happens. I remember when I was in my first year of college, and I was reading a book for school, and this young woman who lived in the dorm room across from mine blasted Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” on her stereo. While she and her friend were laughing as they sang to the song, tears flooded down my cheeks. Of course, there was other stuff going on at the time that was making me cry, but I think I mainly cried because the song was in a key that made me see this golden yellow color, and it was emotionally overwhelming. It was in F# Major, which makes me see golden yellow. As a kid I listened to this song called “A New Day Has Come” by Celine Dion, and honestly that song always makes me cry. It doesn’t help that the music video is emotional, too, and it always confused my family why I cried during that song. Then again, Celine Dion’s songs probably make a lot of people cry. I remember when I was really young and I was taking ice skating lessons at this mall called The Galleria, and when “My Heart Will Go On” started playing on the intercom, I couldn’t stop bawling my eyes out while I was taking my ice-skating lesson. I don’t know how, at eight years old, a song like that could have moved me to tears, but then in 2016 I finally saw the movie Titanic and was up crying at 1:00 am and then bawled even harder when they played “My Heart Will Go On” during the end credits.

I also have sensitive ears, so I cannot go to loud concerts. In ninth grade we had our annual orchestra banquet, and I told everyone I had to leave during the dance at the end of the banquet because the music was loud and my ears were sensitive. When I was in sixth grade, I went to a talent show that was held at my middle school, and these eighth graders who were in a rock band played their music VERY LOUDLY. It was earsplittingly loud, and also people in the auditorium were screaming with so much enthusiasm, and the screaming was pretty loud, too. I sat through the performance feeling miserable, and my mom and sister looked at me with sympathy because they knew I had sensitive hearing. It was really loud for them, too. But yes, this is why, even though I really wanted to go to big arenas and concerts, I just can’t. At least with Spotify or the radio, I can control the volume of the music. In a concert setting, I would have to bring the best earplugs because they would be very loud. I wanted to see HAIM a couple of months ago, but I knew that the music was probably going be loud, so I didn’t go. I do love classical music concerts, though. Going to the symphony is always a treat.

Author: The Arts Are Life

I am a writer and musician. Lover of music, movies, books, art, and nature. View all posts by The Arts Are Life