Prompt:
Read: Emrich, Hinderk M., Janina Neufeld, and Christopher Sinke. “Synesthesia, a Neurological Phenomenon.” In See This Sound: Audiovisuology a Reader, 414–23. Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walthar Köning, 2015.
Find one representative example of synesthesia from popular culture (music, art, literature, etc.) and write a blog post explaining how synesthesia is present in this cultural artifact, what the significance of it is, and give your opinion on this artifact now that you have a better understanding of the phenomenon. Reference the reading in your response to make your case. Your reflection should be two to three paragraphs in length.
In the reading, the author introduces the research on synesthesia and delves into its neurological basis. In the area of genuine synesthesia, the scientific literature most frequently describes colored hearing, in which spoken words, letters, numbers, voices, or sounds activate visual impressions like colors and/ or figures, so-called photisms (415). 
Wassily Kandinsky’s artworks are representative examples of this color hearing. When the synesthete hears music, he sees abstract colors and images. Kandinsky uses visual impressions including colors, lines, and shapes to describe the sounds and voices he hears. His painting becomes musical. We can feel the musicality behind the colors and the lines. These artworks provide the audience with a lot of room for imagination. From the reading, I understand that every synesthete has his or her individual constant couplings of activating and activated perceptions. Therefore, different artists may perceive the same kind of sounds differently with different colors and painting styles. I can see that Kandinsky is mostly using straight lines, whereas others may use dots. The audience not only hears the music behind the painting, but we can also feel the mindset of the painter from how the work is composed.
The movie Inside Out is also an example of synesthesia. In the movie, the five emotions become human figures and they differ in color. Disgust is green, Anger is red, Joy is orange, Sadness is blue and Fear is purple. From my perspective, the filmmaker’s decision on the color of the five emotional characters is related to synesthesia. When people are happy, they may think of warm colors like yellow or orange, which is the color of Joy, and vice versa. When people see warm colors like yellow or orange, their spirits may lift up. When we say the word blue, it doesn’t only mean the color, but it also contains the meaning of sadness. So in the movie, the colors and the emotions are related. This reminds me of the synesthetic perceptions of color mentioned in the reading (419). Though different in meaning, there is a connection between the letters, colors, brightness, etc.
Since synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon, there are people with genuine synesthesia. However, from my perspective, people more or less experience synesthesia in their daily lives. We can explore more about the connections of all senses.