Hearing What You See

A recent gif image has been circulating  where individual can report hearing a “thud” sound with the image, despite there being no sound.  The convergence of visual and auditory events is not new and researchers believe that the visually-evoked auditory responses (VEAR) are more common than previously thought.

Other types of synaesthesias are estimated to have an overall prevalence of 4.4 percent; however, recent work published in the journal Cortex estimated the prevalence of VEAR to 21 percent. To do so the researchers carried out a large-scale online study (n=4128) with a survey that included 24 silent video clips similar to the “thud gif.” They observed that those reporting “yes” to hearing sounds were more likely to report tinnitus or musical imagery.

Reference

Fassnidge CJ, Freeman ED. (2018) Sounds from seeing silent motion: Who hears them, and what looks loudest? Cortex.