What is it like to taste sound? Inside the mind of a synaesthete.

Imagine that you are relaxing in your living room when you hear your dog bark. Before you know it, your mouth is filled with the taste and texture of runny custard. Later on, you are talking to a friend and they say the word “like”, which creates the flavour of thick creamy yoghurt. When you think the word “Martin”, you taste a warm almond tart and listening to piano music gives you the experience of eating pineapple chunks.

This is the life of James Wannerton, a symphony of flavour.

For as long as he can remember, James has been able to taste sound, but he was twenty before he realised that this was unusual. One evening he caught the end of a TV show and learned that his condition had a name: “synaesthesia”.

People with synaesthesia experience a “blending” of senses that are usually unrelated. There are thought to be over eighty different types of the condition, and individual experiences vary dramatically. For synaesthete and psychologist Carol Crane, music produces tangible sensation, creating a kind of sensory fantasia. Guitar sounds gently tickle her ankles and piano keys press down on her chest just over her heart. New Orleans style jazz hits her all over, she says, “like heavy, sharp raindrops”.