Listen with your eyes: one in five of us may 'hear' flashes of light

THE GUARDIAN

2017-01-17 by Hannah Devlin

A surprising number of people experience a form of sensory cross wiring in which light flashes and visual movements are ‘heard’, research finds

One in five people is affected by a synaesthesia-like phenomenon in which visual movements or flashes of light are “heard” as faint sounds, according to scientists.

The findings suggest that far more people than initially thought experience some form of sensory cross-wiring – which could explain the appeal of flashing musical baby toys and strobed lighting at raves.

Elliot Freeman, a cognitive neuroscientist at City University and the study’s lead author, said: “A lot of us go around having senses that we do not even recognise.” (...)