Music and other sounds that trigger epileptic synesthesia?
July 28, 2024 11:35 AM
I can't drive for at least six months but I can see sounds now so that's cool. I'd like to make the most of the free psychedelic trips while I wait for my neurology appointment. If you have synesthesia, especially epileptic synesthesia, what music and other sounds trigger it for you? Thanks!
Interesting. I don't have any personal experience with synesthesia, but the one thing I know about it is that it is highly individual. The things or (for example) colors people see in response to different stimuli is literally all over the place.
A fair number of musicians have synesthesia, and so they will come up with elaborate systems for which note, or timbre, or which musical key, or whatever, corresponds to which color, and so on. And no one person's catalog ever corresponds to another person's at all.
So the best I can suggest is to try different things - different stimuli, different sounds, different music, different volumes (as you already discovered), different timbres & textures, different musical genres, and so on and on.
You might, for example, find some particular thing that does trigger the synesthesia without such a loud volume. (Or maybe not.)
A good place to start might be either music or sounds or musical genres that you already have a strong emotional association with. That might give you a stronger response at a lower volume (though also - it might not).
Also, at lower decibel levels try noticing if there are more subtle visuals - maybe at a level you wouldn't ordinarily notice. But maybe if you are, say, just quiet with eyes closed or whatever, and specifically tuning into it or receptive, maybe you would notice them.
The obvious thing to try is volume levels that are quite loud but below ear-damaging. You could try different types of sounds, music, timbres, etc. But also experiment with different volume levels - maybe there is another level that would trigger that same response, perhaps when paired with something different. You could for example try different sounds at some of the sound effect libraries you can find online.
posted by flug at 3:06 PM on July 28
A fair number of musicians have synesthesia, and so they will come up with elaborate systems for which note, or timbre, or which musical key, or whatever, corresponds to which color, and so on. And no one person's catalog ever corresponds to another person's at all.
So the best I can suggest is to try different things - different stimuli, different sounds, different music, different volumes (as you already discovered), different timbres & textures, different musical genres, and so on and on.
You might, for example, find some particular thing that does trigger the synesthesia without such a loud volume. (Or maybe not.)
A good place to start might be either music or sounds or musical genres that you already have a strong emotional association with. That might give you a stronger response at a lower volume (though also - it might not).
Also, at lower decibel levels try noticing if there are more subtle visuals - maybe at a level you wouldn't ordinarily notice. But maybe if you are, say, just quiet with eyes closed or whatever, and specifically tuning into it or receptive, maybe you would notice them.
The obvious thing to try is volume levels that are quite loud but below ear-damaging. You could try different types of sounds, music, timbres, etc. But also experiment with different volume levels - maybe there is another level that would trigger that same response, perhaps when paired with something different. You could for example try different sounds at some of the sound effect libraries you can find online.
posted by flug at 3:06 PM on July 28
For me the quieter the background, the more likely a sudden noise will seem loud and trigger it. Have you tried putting on noise cancellation headphones and reducing all sensory input to see if going from complete silence to a fairly loud, unexpected noise works?
The difficulty is actually muting the sounds of your own body, as you will hear them from the vibrations in your body.
Noises that wake me from sleep will also trigger it, and they don't have to be very loud, just able to jerk me awake.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:00 PM on July 28
The difficulty is actually muting the sounds of your own body, as you will hear them from the vibrations in your body.
Noises that wake me from sleep will also trigger it, and they don't have to be very loud, just able to jerk me awake.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:00 PM on July 28
Sounds loud enough to cause acute hearing damage could conceivably also be loud enough to stimulate the perception of light by making your visual cortex jiggle around, either making it impinge directly on your meninges and skull or simply by stretching and contraction.
The brightest flash of light I ever saw in my life was when I went over the handle bars and landed right on top of my head on a concrete sidewalk as a kid.
I think that kind of stimulation happens all the time at a low level but is filtered out by the brain, and it makes sense to me that a lowered threshold for it might go along with being seizure prone.
But it might also be a triggering event for a seizure, and I think you should avoid it for that reason as well as to preserve your hearing.
posted by jamjam at 6:03 PM on July 28
The brightest flash of light I ever saw in my life was when I went over the handle bars and landed right on top of my head on a concrete sidewalk as a kid.
I think that kind of stimulation happens all the time at a low level but is filtered out by the brain, and it makes sense to me that a lowered threshold for it might go along with being seizure prone.
But it might also be a triggering event for a seizure, and I think you should avoid it for that reason as well as to preserve your hearing.
posted by jamjam at 6:03 PM on July 28
long slow filter sweeps
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 4:02 AM on July 29
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 4:02 AM on July 29
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So I can't actually have much fun with it :( and would have probably never even noticed the new neurological symptom if there hadn't been a fire alarm this morning.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:56 PM on July 28