Diseases

Synesthesia

The experience of involuntary sensory cross activation where the presentation of a particular stimulus elicits a secondary sensory-perceptual experience. It most commonly occurs in the association of color with linguistic stimuli such as letters, numbers, words, or music, but can also occur between other senses. Although synesthesia can be acquired or transient due to trauma or drug use, there is also a strong genetic component, with a prevalence of about 1 in 2,000 individuals and a female to male ratio of 6:1.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

The experience of involuntary sensory cross activation where the presentation of a particular stimulus elicits a secondary sensory-perceptual experience. It most commonly occurs in the association of color with linguistic stimuli such as letters, numbers, words, or music, but can also occur between other senses. Although synesthesia can be acquired or transient due to trauma or drug use, there is also a strong genetic component, with a prevalence of about 1 in 2,000 individuals and a female to male ratio of 6:1.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

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MeSH Record

Synonyms

23 entry terms
  • Synesthesias
  • Chromesthesia
  • Colored Hearing Synesthesia
  • Grapheme-Color Synesthesia
  • Ideaesthesia
  • Ideasthesia
  • Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia
  • Chromesthesias
  • Colored Hearing Synesthesias
  • Grapheme Color Synesthesia
  • Grapheme-Color Synesthesias
  • Hearing Synesthesia, Colored
  • Hearing Synesthesias, Colored
  • Ideaesthesias
  • Ideasthesias
  • Lexical Gustatory Synesthesia
  • Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesias
  • Synesthesia, Colored Hearing
  • Synesthesia, Grapheme-Color
  • Synesthesia, Lexical-Gustatory
  • Synesthesias, Colored Hearing
  • Synesthesias, Grapheme-Color
  • Synesthesias, Lexical-Gustatory

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

31 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings blood, cerebrospinal fluid, chemically induced, classification, complications, diagnosis, diagnostic imaging, diet therapy, drug therapy, economics, enzymology, epidemiology, ethnology, etiology, genetics, history, immunology, metabolism, microbiology, mortality, nursing, parasitology, pathology, physiopathology, prevention & control, psychology, rehabilitation, surgery, therapy, urine, virology.

MeSH Record

History Note

2020(2011)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Number

  1. C10w.597.606.762.850w

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

WM 204

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Synesthesia. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D000080311. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D000080311
  2. Synesthesia. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
  3. Synesthesia. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13258