Humans can hear shapes and sizes and taste words, Oxford University researchers have found.
The blending of sensory perceptions, known as synaesthesia, was previously thought to affect less than 1% of the population. Synaesthesia usually involves the stimulus of one sense leading to an involuntary sensory experience in another.
However, after finding that people associate certain foods and shapes with particular words, Professor Charles Spence has argued that we are all “synaesthetes” up to a point.
Spence has been working with a high-profile French chef to create new recipes that combine an auditory experience with eating.
