“Blue is music to my ears”: Multimodal synesthesias after a thalamic stroke

Abstract

Acquired synesthesias have been reported in association with deafferentation of the visual system, temporal lobe seizures, and the use of psychedelics. Based on our review of the literature, the appearance of synesthesias after a thalamic stroke has been reported only once. We present the case of a 45-year-old hypertensive male who, 9 months after a hemorrhagic stroke involving the left lateral posterior nucleus of the thalamus developed persistent sound–tactile, sound–color, and grapheme–gustatory synesthesias. Moreover, the patient noted that even thinking about a sensory stimulus could trigger the experience of another sensory modality, a conceptual type of synesthesia.

Keywords:

• Synesthesias
• Multimodal
• Thalamic
• Stroke
• Posterior lateral thalamus