Aug. 15, 2006 - Imagine a world where the sound of music would make you
see colors. Where the note B is sparkling silver and D flat is a
wondrous, pure periwinkle. Where the taste of food has a distinctive
shape and where the sound of words can leave a bad taste. Even the
calendar - days, months and years - can generate specific 3-D images.
Watch "Medical Mysteries" Wednesday at 10 p.m.
That's the world of Laura Rosser, 24, and others who have synesthesia,
in which one sense - taste, sight, hearing, touch or smell - gets
jumbled with another, creating what Dr. Richard Cytowic, a neurologist,
describes as a blending of the senses.
"My voice, for example, is not only something that you hear but also
something that you might see or taste or feel as a physical touch,"
Rosser sees every note of the piano she plays as a distinct color. "E
flat is turquoise. Very warm turquoise," Rosser said. "F sharp is
yellow-green." When Rosser plays many notes together, she said the
colors "sort of merge into each other."