There was an article in the Economist this week that strongly resonated with me. It concerned the "condition" of synaethsesia, whereby the signal from one sense is interpreted by another. The most famous example is that of seeing sound in colours. The Economist article reported a study into how people link taste with sound.

This is something that I have long experienced. Whilst I could never claim to be a good taster, whenever I try to describe a taste, it is usually in terms of a graphic equaliser or in the choir voices - soprano, alto, tenor, bass. The research described in the Economist article ascribes particular taste sensations to types of musical sound - bitterness with the higher strings (I can agree with that on so many levels!), vanilla was most associated with the woodwinds - and brass? Well, they got musk, which I don't fully understand.


Not only that, it worked the other way around too, in that sounds could affect the way people tasted things. They ran the experiment of people eating toffee with varying high or low pitched music playing in the background. Indeed, that led to different descriptions of the taste, even though it was always the same toffee variety in all cases.

I cannot claim that there is any direct link betwen their findings and my own experiences, but it was a great feeling to see it all confirmed in print. I spoke about it with my wife that evening and found her questions personally enlightening. I had always felt that I had a very poor taste memory. I can't even imagine a Chardonnay wine "taste". Yet when she asked me about how I would describe various foods (or drink, especially this Madog's Ale I had recently) directly in terms of sound, I found it astoundingly easy to recall them (apart from water).

So for 2012 I will try to be more active in "saving" my impressions in those terms. In particular I want to see if I can recall the wines that we'll be drinking this year, or at least the archetypes. Let's see / taste / hear how I get on...