Colors in Silence – The Journey of a Synesthete in Understanding the Senses

Abstract

This paper will explore how a synesthete, RC, perceives colors, shapes, and textures in silence. RC has sound-to-color synesthesia, where at least one color is associated with each pitch on the Western music scale. Listening to silence strips all sound down to the bare minimum in terms of color or texture. As discovered through weekly  meditation in a “Deep Listening” class, RC places a pitch to everything at least audible when plunged into silence, trying hard to capture the colors of every available sound. The silence also forces a more pronounced tactile sense that RC tries to grasp together with the colors. Every experience with the sound however, is present but muddled, and difficult to understand. Silence becomes an uncomfortable world of uncertainty and it becomes vital to grasp the visual and tactile nuances that are a part of it. This paper reflects RC’s progression through silence towards an understanding of her senses. What is silence? And how does the synesthete grapple with it?