The idea of synaesthesia has always fascinated me — the very real and quantifiable experiencing of sensory crossover. Sounds experienced as colors, colors experienced as varying degrees of hot and cold, shapes carrying different scents.

There is a little synaesthesia in each of us, even the ones without synaptic misfirings. Or perhaps there is simply a natural bleed across our senses; we have all experienced sensations that are too intense (bright lights, loud noises, or even touches or tastes that are overwhelmingly strong).  We describe both sounds and touch as soft, tastes and touches as light and delicate, sights and sounds as loud.

This doesn’t even touch on the idea that I have that there are other senses that aren’t counted in the common five, like empathy, or perhaps even (if you are willing to consider outside alternatives) telepathy.  And those, too, can be considered similar to the other senses in that they are tickled by outside stimuli, and that it is through them that we experience and receive messages about the world around us.

Why shouldn’t there be alternates?  We don’t possess sonar, which is an alien translation of sound into sight.  We don’t possess the ability to distinguish between scents like animals, leaving us unable to smell fear and even pheromones.

The ascription of only human traits to the entire realm of possibility is small-minded, and a large part of the reason that science-fiction is mostly dull to me.

This idea of synaesthesia has occasionally crept into my mind when poking around with a creative process.  I’m particularly intrigued with the concept of opening up new avenues in one medium by applying techniques from another (in my case, one with which I’m more familiar).

For instance, I’ve got plenty of experience with audio, and can understand the underpinnings of audio effects like delay, chorusing, phasing (both of the latter are just shortened extensions of the first), distortion, fitering, etc.   And all of these are present in some way in video — there is echoing, creating ghost trails of what you’ve seen, and noise filtering, and tweaking the color balance.  For someone who doesn’t have a thorough knowledge of the theory that underlies one or the other, though (my visual academic background lags far behind my aural), it seems like this approach might unlock some creative barriers, at least for those seeking a new and fresh perspective.

If you were listening to me say all this, my words would probably carry the distinctive odor of insanity. Or shit; I’m not sure how different the two are, but I imagine they’re at least distinct.