A woman who sees colours, textures and shapes when she hears sounds PAINTS her experiences – and says Harry Styles’ voice looks like emerald green speckles of magic.<br /><br />Sarah Kraning, 30, has experienced visuals with sounds for as long as she can remember but was only diagnosed with synesthesia aged 22.<br /><br />Sound-to-colour synesthesia is a rare condition where sound evokes an experience of colour, shape or movement.<br /><br />Sarah struggled growing up with the distractions of her condition and was tested for ADHD and autism before a lesson on synesthesia led her to her diagnosis in 2015.<br /><br />Her visuals come to her automatically like a “sense” but can be overstimulating and Sarah sometimes has to wear ear buds or remove herself from a situation.<br /><br />For Sarah, ocean waves look like silver threads crisscrossing and Kate Bush’s voice looks like a thick ribbon of bubble gum.<br /><br />She says Harry Styles’ speaking voice sounds like emerald green speckles of magic.<br /><br />Sarah uses the visuals she gets from music and sounds to create unique artwork.<br /><br />Sarah, an artist, who is currently living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, said: “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.<br /><br />“I was six when I noticed something was different about me.<br /><br />“I remember telling my mum Disney music was sparkly.<br /><br />"She giggled and said 'that’s imaginative'. I kept saying – ‘it really is sparkly’.<br /><br />“It’s just a sense. It’s so normal to me.<br /><br />“It can be pretty distracting and over stimulating.<br /><br />“I feel lucky. It’s really fun.”<br /><br />Sarah grew up with an intense auditory sensitivity and would struggle in a classroom setting.<br /><br />She said: “In school I loved to learn but classrooms were really noisy.<br /><br />“Teachers would play music while testing.<br /><br />"I would be so lost I couldn’t do the test.<br /><br />“Music is the most vivid to me.”<br /><br />Sarah believes synesthesia runs in the family as her dad, Max, 67, and English teacher has misophonia – the discomfort with sound.<br /><br />Sarah says high-pitched notes are normally brighter for her – such as a siren and colours will vary if someone else says a word or if she says one.<br /><br />She said: “It depends on pitch to me.<br /><br />“It can look different when people say a name and when I say it.”<br /><br />Some sounds stay consistent for Sarah such as ‘sh’ which looks like spray paint to her.<br /><br />She said most sounds are “pleasant” but some can be discomforting such as the hoarse voice of someone with laryngitis – which looks scratchy, lumpy and has some sharp elements for her.<br /><br />Sarah said: “The first time I had laryngitis the visuals of my own voice scared me.<br /><br />“I cried all day.”<br /><br />Sarah experiences visuals for people’s names when they are spoken out loud – not when she reads them.<br /><br />She said: “The name Everly is really pretty.<br /><br />"It has silky blue shapes and the ‘ly’ has twinkles of light.<br /><br />“Harry’s (Styles) voice looks like emerald green speckles of magic .”<br /><br />Sarah uses her unique sense to inspire her painting and creates art from the visuals she experiences in music.<br /><br />She said: “People send me a voice note of a loved one passed away and I will paint from that.<br /><br />“I paint what I see.”
