Acquired auditory-visual synesthesia: A window to early cross-modal sensory interactions

Figures & data

Table 1 Clinical patient summary of reported cases of acquired auditory-visual synesthesia in the literature

Author et al	No	Age/Sex	Path/Side	Onset of synesthesia	Sen deaf	VA	Inducer	Lat	State	Duration
Lessel	1	37/M	Ker-Con/NR	Im	BF	N/A	S, No	*	D, St	1 wk
Lessel	2	37/F	ON/L	1 wk	P	L: 20/200	S, No	L	D, St	NR
Lessel	3	46/F	NL/R	6 mo	P	R: 6/200	S	R	D, St	NR
Jacobs	4	25/F	ON/L	1–3 d	P	L: 20/70 R: 20/20	S	L	D, Rel	Persist
Jacobs	5	38/F	ON/R	1–3 d	P	R: 20/400–20/40	S	R	D, Rel	Persist
Jacobs	6	26/M	ON/R	1–3 d	NC	R: LP	S	R	D, Rel	Persist
Jacobs	7	44/F	Ch Tu	1–3 d	P	R: 20/50 L: 20/20	S	R	Lt, EO	Persist
Jacobs	8	52/F	Ch Tu	1–3 d	P	B: 20/30	S, No	Ipsi and B	D, Rel	Persist
Jacobs	9	61/F	TA/R	1–3 d	NC	R: 20/800 L: 20/40	S, N, Vo	R	D, Rel	Persist
Jacobs	10	49/M	TA/R	1–3 d	NC	R: LP-20/50	S, N, Vo	R	D, Rel	5 mo
Jacobs	11	71/M	PSA/R	3 mo	C	R: NLP	S	R	Lt, EO	Persist
Jacobs	12	70/F	Vas/R	1–3 d	P	R: 20/50 L: 20/30	S, N, Vo	R	D, Rel	Persist
Bender	13	54/M	ON/NR	NR	P	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Kim	14	54/M	MC/L	9 mo	P	L: 20/50	No	NR	Dk	49 mo**
Page	15	55/M	ION/R	After***	P	R: 6/60, N 24	S	NR	Dk and Lt	8 mo
Page	16	38/M	ION/R	2 wk	P	R: 6/6, N5	S, N, Vo	NR	Dk	2 mo
Page	17	68/M	ION/L	Before	P	L: 6/9, N10	No, S	NR	Dk	4 mo
Page	18	66/M	art ION/L	1 mo	P	LUH: MP LLH: LP	No	NR	Dk	4 y+
Page	19	30/M	ON/L	2 wk	P	L: 6/12 + 2, N6	S	NR	Dk	10 mo+
Rao	20	52/M	PT TOB/B	1 yr	C	N/A	No, S	Ipsi and B	Awake	Persist

Abbreviations: No, number of patients as referenced in the text; F, female; M, male; Path, pathology; NR, not reported; Ker-Con, keraotconus; ON, optic neuritis; NL, neurilemma; Ch Tu, chiasmal tumor; TA, temporal arteritis; PSA, post-surgical amauresis; Vas, vascular occlusive disease; MC, melanocytoma; ION, ischemic optic neuropathy; art, arteritic; PT TOB, post-traumatic total ocular blindness; Im, Immediate; wk, week; d, day; mo, month; yr, year; Sens deaf, degree of sensory deafferentation by patient report; BF, blindfolded; P, partial; C, complete; NC, near complete; VA, visual acuity of the abnormal eye; NR, not reported; LP, light perception; NLP, no light perception; MP, movement perception; LUH, left upper half; LLH, left lower half; R, right; L, left; Ind, inducer; S, sound; No, Noise; Vo, voice; Lat, laterality of inducer-concurrent (see text); Ipsi, ipsilateral; B, bilateral; D, drowsy; St, still; Rel, relaxed; Dk, dark; Lt, light; +, persistent after the stated time.

Notes:

* Flash of light localized approximately to the site at which the sound originated;

** Total of 49 months including 16 months post-enucleation of the left eye;

*** not reported in days, weeks or months.

Table 2 Summary of onset of synesthesia in relation to visual deafferentation

Onset of synesthesia	No	Pathology: number of cases
Before	17	ION: 1
Acute (1–3 d)	4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12	ON: 3, ChTu: 2, TA: 1
Sub-acute (1–4 wk)	2,16,18,19	ION: 1, ON: 2, arteritic ION: 1
Chronic (months)	3, 11, 14, 20	NL: 1, MC: 1, PT TOB: 1

Abbreviations: No, number of patients as referenced in the text; ION, ischemic optic neuritis; ON, optic neuritis; ChTu, chiasmal tumor; TA, temporal arteritis; NL, neurilemoma; MC, melanocytoma; PT TOB, post-traumatic total ocular blindness.

Table 3 Neurophysiological studies in patients with auditory-visual synesthesia with visual deafferentation

Author et al	No	VEP	AEP	Occipital activation
Lessel	1	NR	NR	N/A
Lessel	2	NR	NR	N/A
Lessel	3	NR	NR	N/A
Jacobs	4	B Abn*	WNL	NR
Jacobs	5	U Abn	WNL	NR
Jacobs	6	NR	NR	N/A
Jacobs	7	NR	NR	N/A
Jacobs	8	U Abn	WNL	NR
Jacobs	9	U Abn	WNL	NR
Jacobs	10	U Abn	WNL	NR
Jacobs	11**	U Abn	WNL	NR
Jacobs	12	U Abn	WNL	NR
Bender	13	NR	NR	N/A
Kim	14	NR	NR	N/A
Page	15***	U Abn	NR	N/A
Page	16***	Done	WNL	NR
Page	17	Done	NR	N/A
Page	18	Done	NR	N/A
Page	19	Done	NR	N/A
Rao	20	B absent	WNL	Yes

Abbreviations: No, number of patients as referenced in the text; VEP, visual evoked potential; AEP, auditory evoked potential; NR, not reported; B, bilateral; U, unilateral; Abn, abnormality; Done, exact results not reported; WNL, normal; N/A, not applicable (because AEPs were not done).

Notes:

* Due to presence of left optic neuritis and past history of right retrobulbar neuritis (four years prior);

** VEP showed incomplete deafferentation despite amauresis reported by patient;

*** No electroretinogram (ERG) activation by sound.