Dr Linda Kirkman (@lindathestar.bsky.social)

The way I feel: I see music in colours as I play – it’s almost psychedelic Celia Craig, an oboist and record-label founder, shares her experience of chromesthesia I can remember the first moment I realised I had synaesthesia, a brain phenomenon experienced by 2% to 4% of the population, in which stimulation of one sense leads to automatic experiences in a second sense. I was three years old and somebody played the B note on the piano. The whole room went white, like a blizzard. I remember thinking: “Wow, B feels good, doesn’t it?” Back then I didn’t know there was a word for my experiences; I just knew I loved to be around music because of the thrill it gave me. Each note looked like a certain colour, becoming more sophisticated and textured as I grew up. Listening to pieces of music became an almost psychedelic experience. Some would give me an emerald green effect or feel like I was in the warp drive in Star Trek. Others would trigger this feeling of floating in billowing waves of purple. It was exhilarating but overwhelming. I remember listening to an opera and thinking: “God, you can hardly see in pieces like this.” I still thought everybody saw the world this way. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/26/i-see-music-in-colour-chromesthesia-sound-to-color-synaesthesia?CMP=aus_bsky