Synesthesia Statistics
Hey there, ladies and gents! Welcome back! How’d that last synesthesia test go? This post will focus predominantly on synesthesia statistics, or the stats, percentages, and general facts that quantify the neurological condition. Let’s get goin’! First off, women and those who are predominantly left-handed make up the majority of the synethete population in the world. The female-to-male ratio is 3:1 (75%) in terms of the amount of synesthetes in the world. The condition itself is considered “rare” since only 1 in every 2000 people in the world have synesthesia. Another factor to consider is that considering that this condition is caused in the left-hemisphere of the brain, there is a drastic surplus of southpaws (left-handers) that have synesthetic experiences.
The Most Common Form
Statistically, the most common form of synesthesia is called color-graphemic synesthesia. With this particular condition, patients will notice that letters and numbers will be seen as different colors. There have been a total of over 60 different types of synesthesia in the world but there have only been a small amount of cases that have been thoroughly studied by medical professionals and scientists. With this particular condition, the intensity varies per patient and most of the time, patients aren’t aware that their perceptions are irregular.
Genetic Statistics Available?
There have been studies to see whether synesthesia is a genetic disease but there has been no proof of inheritance thus far (although synesthesia does run throughout families). See the video below from Dr. Jamie Ward and Go Cognitive to learn more about the genetics. People will also experience synesthetic symptoms if they have a stroke, are under the influence of psychedelic drugs (such as LSD) or during seizures. If synesthesia arises outside of a family unit it is labeled as adventitious synesthesia. This particular type of synesthesia is known to affect only sound, vision, touch, or hearing.
Those who experience synesthesia may notice that they have a superior memory. As per scientific studies and synesthesia statistics, synesthetes were tested with the Wechsler Memory Scale and they were placed within the superior range of the scale. Another benefit to the memory is that spatial locations of particular objects is remembered. Although memory increases, math and logic are two areas that suffer drastically with synesthetes due to the fact that the condition occurs within the left hemisphere of the brain.
Now That You Know . . .
For those of you who know a synesthete: Now that you’re familiar with some of the basic statistics of synesthesia, does it make you appreciate your friend/acquaintance/relative that much more? It’s pretty crazy to think that 1 out of every 2000 people walking the streets is a synesthete. For me, it brings to mind one question: How many of these people actually know that their perceptions are irregular – that they have synesthesia. Now THAT would be an interesting statistic! Once again, thanks for tuning in!
Hello..I have experienced tasting symptoms related to words, colors, numbers, sounds and letters since I can remember. I am now 41 years old and I didn’t realize this was an unnatural ability until I was in my late 30′s. I also, did not want to discuss this with anyone, as I thought that I would be looked at as “crazy”.
I had a very hard time learning as a child because I could not focus on words – either read by me silently, or read out loud by my classmates. It was so difficult as I could even “taste” their voices – and still do. I am glad that I am not the only one.
Awesome to hear, Amy! Congrats on being a synesthete and thanks for reading!
i’ve just recently (at 21.3 years of age) realized that i have synesthesia. i’ve been officially diagnosed as having asperger’s syndrome, but the form of synesthesia i have has practically no research done on it. maybe you could direct me to some information? i experience music as having directions/movements/positions. this is the dominate form of what i experience, but i also “hear” some movements if i watch closely. i’ve found that synesthesia can go both ways, but it’s unusual and one side is more pronounced. any information that you can provide would be most appreciated, i enjoyed your statistics.
Hey Bob,
Thanks for the comment! As you probably know at this point, there are many variations of synesthesia – not all of which have a defined name. However, what you’re describing definitely sounds like synesthesia. One thing that’s common between your experiences and those of many synesthetes is the idea of a physical location or position. If you’re looking for specifics, I’d check out the battery of tests on synesthete.org. That might better help you pinpoint exactly what you’re experiencing!
I’m 15 years old and my sister and I have grapheme to color synesthesia. I found out about a month ago. Since my sister said she saw letters with colors too, I was absolutely sure that everybody did; but some people just didn’t take the time to notice it. Well, I guess they actually don’t! It’s funny because I remember specifically talking about it with her before I knew it was an actual condition. My dad also has said that he sees colors or shapes in the space around him when he listens to music (which is ALL the time). We are all right handed, but my grandfather (on my father’s side, seems like he may have had it, though I never got to meet him) was ambidextrous and artistically talented (unlike me, but I am a very good speller…unlike my sister. Strange how I can’t draw anything better than a 5 year old but my sister and father can. It’s interesting how the universe evens things out.)
Hey Daniel,
Wow! Thanks for sharing your experiences. It’s always great to hear from synesthetes, and from what you’ve shared, it seems like it runs in the family. This is actually pretty common. There have been some great studies that point to the genetic nature of synesthesia. Anyways, thanks again! Stop back!
I found out about synesthia a few years back while watching TV. I found it extremely interesting and wanted to learn more, so I decided to look into it last year and when I did, I found out that I have synesthia. I never would have guessed that I actually had something like this. I always knew that numbers, days of the week, months, colors, objects, and so on didn’t have personalities to other people, I simply thought it was a quirk of mine. I am so glad to find out that I’m not the only one.
Hey Chelsea,
Thanks for the comment! It seems like your somewhat recent discovery of synesthesia is actually pretty common amongst synesthetes. Many are shocked when they find that these “quirks” are actually defined and present in others. Glad to hear of your experience!
I am 41 years old and just today I discovered I have synesthesia! How crazy is that? I’m still trying to understand how is it that I am only one of few out there that would associate the names of days of the week with specific colors!?!?!? I’ve been doing it all my life, since I have memory. I am attending an Instructor Development Course all this week and one of the exercises included a 5-minute presentation on the subject of our choice. One of my classmates selected synesthesia and it was like she was describing me!!! Never felt like this before
Went to your website, took your little quiz and here I am!
Even though I have an advance degree in chemistry and I’m very passionate about my job, I still have very strong inclinations to artistic endeavors like music and crafts; and everybody keeps telling me I have an incredibly good memory. I just though I was weird!
Wow, Sandra! Awesome to hear! It’s actually quite common, you know – for individuals to find out later in life about synesthesia. I’m glad that you found our site, and I encourage you to keep learning!
Hello!
I’m 58 years old and realized today that I have synesthesia. I was reading a novel and it was described in the story line. I see linear sequence numbers as well as months, days of the week, years, alphabet, etc. I see it on my left side and these have a very distinct pattern. I was blown away. I have, over the years, described this to people but everyone thought I was crazy. Glad to hear that this is real.
I signed up for the newsletter and look forward to getting more educated on the subject, thanks for being here.
Marcia
Hey Marcia!
Awesome to hear! We hear many stories similar to yours, and we’re happy to know that you’re looking to learn more about synesthesia. Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter! The next one will be coming your way on September 1st.
So interesting thinking about how many people don’t even know they have synesthesia! I had gone 19 years not knowing that everyone else doesn’t think so colorfully until one day in my philosophy class when my professor tried to proves something saying the number five was not blue, because that would be a category mistake. That led me to start questioning, because to me it was obvious the number five wasn’t blue; it was lime green. Since then i have been reading up on synesthesia in my free time. It is so interesting finally learning that not everyone thinks in this way.
Dani,
You hit the nail on the head. Awareness isn’t so wide spread as one might think. Thanks for stopping by!
Me and my brother both have a lot of different types of synethesia. It’s weird though, because I’ve always been terrified or needles when he hasn’t. Whenever I get a shot, I can’t just try not to focus on the feeling of pain, because I also automatically imagine what the feeling of the shot LOOKS like, and what it tastes like, etc. It helps to look away from the shot, but I still see the feeling/shape of the feeling. This makes painful things more dramatic, which is a bad thing. I don’t know if it’s normal for people with this condition to have or not.