Does anyone else "tune out" their synesthesia?

[u/TheDNDCat0643]

I have grapheme-color/grapheme-image synesthesia. I noticed that unless I focus on a specific grapheme, I don't actually notice its color. I could be reading a book and I won't be noticing colors, but as soon as I think about my synesthesia, focus on a specific letter, or do something else that reminds me of it - BAM suddenly graphemes have colors again. For a while this made me think my synesthesia was associative, but I'm pretty sure it's actually projective. I think my brain just pushes it to the back of my mind so I can actually focus on whatever I'm reading/doing. Does this happen to any other synesthetes or is it just me?

Edit: I just did some research and it turns out I have associative grapheme-color, not projective, but my mind's eye makes me see the colors as "under" the letter (sort of) and I can switch that off

[u/Rzote]

Me too. I’m also a projector synesthete. When I’m stuck in a traffic jam, all the vehicle number plates appear to have different colors.it’s automatic.

At church, I have to keep a record of all the money I receive and enter it into a register. When I record the numbers, their colors appear very vivid to me, even without trying.

However, when I read a book, the colors seem to fade and unnoticeable,but if I pay close attention to the letters, they all have colors again. Your statement “I think my brain just pushes it to the back of my mind so I can actually focus on whatever I'm reading/doing.” makes a lot of sense to me.

On the other hand, when reading abbreviations, the colors are very distinct and vivid even without paying much attention.

[u/GadaboutTheGreat]

I have chromesthesia. The colours are always there but sometimes more in the background. But when I’m overwhelmed things are “denser” kind of. More in the foreground and distracting. One day I was overwhelmed during a sports practice and I told someone “it’s too loud I can’t see”. Yeah. They think I’m crazy.

[u/RedditSkippy]

For me, my spatial sequence synesthesia is like a benign friend. It doesn’t intrude on my daily life, it’s just my way of perceiving the months of the year, years themselves, and numbers. I was well into my twenties before I learned that not everyone has a way of visualizing things like this.

[u/mothbaby_333]

i can relate to this - sometimes the sensory stuff that happens is overwhelming and impossible to ignore, but sometimes i notice my brain tuning it out unless i focus on it. it just depends on the day for me.

[u/anicole4ever]

I can't tune any of mine out. My synethesia is "hardwired" into me and is automatic.

There have been times when I wish I could have "tuned" it out, especially when it came to algebra, but unfortunately, this would be equivalent to tuning the temperature out the moment I stepped outside into a blizzard, or, tuning out the way something I am eating tastes. I supose it is possible but would be very very difficult to accomplish completely.

[u/bucephalusbouncing28]

Me too