Mar 21, 2018
Up to one in five people may show signs of a synesthesia-like phenomenon in which they 'hear' silent flashes or movement, according to a new study.
While other typical synaesthesias are estimated to have an overall prevalence of 4.4 per cent, the vEAR effect has recently gained some prominence on social media following the rise of 'noisy GIFs', and in particular the 'thudding pylon' GIF which received thousands of retweets.
Its prevalence may be greater than other types because auditory and visual events are much more highly correlated in nature when compared to other types of synaesthesia associated with colour and visual forms.
