Colors of Hearings: A Subjective Experience of Synesthesia Among Six Siblings

Current research aims to explore, understand and describe the subjective experiences of synesthesia among six self-reported synesthete siblings. We conducted two studies, one quantitative and one qualitative, for this purpose. The first study aimed to measure whether six siblings actually had synesthesia experiences. Six synesthete siblings and their eighteen non-synesthete peers participated the study 1. First, participants filled out the Eagleman Synesthesia Test Battery - Synesthesia Type Scale. Then, we asked the participants to match some words that we randomly selected from the Turkish dictionary with colors on a color scale. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal compositions showed that six siblings matched words with specific colors compared to their non-synesthete peers, and these colors hardly change over time. In study 2, we interviewed these siblings and aimed to investigate their synesthetic experiences using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. We verbatim transcribed the interviews, and results showed that three main themes emerged, which were: (1) The nature of the synesthesia experience: Is it really rare?, (2) Details of the synesthesia experience, (3) Time and experience: It can change. The third superordinate theme has a subordinate theme, which is the stability of the associated colors within participants. We discussed the findings in the context of the persistence and changeability of the synesthetic experience and the uniqueness seen among siblings even when raised in the same environment.