7 ms·

I'm actually the opposite. In that I see flashes of light when I hear sounds (when my eyes are closed in a dark place). Happens all the time when I'm laying in

I'm actually the opposite. In that I see flashes of light when I hear sounds (when my eyes are closed in a dark place). Happens all the time when I'm laying in bed before I fall asleep at night.

knodi123 10y ago
I think that's pretty common. At least, it happens to me, and I've mentioned it to several friends who said "oh yeah, that happens to me too"
- shadykiller 10y ago
  +1 me too
radmin 10y ago
I also experience this.
throw_away 10y ago
Do you mean sounds that are real or imagined? Reading this article made me look up this phenomenon I sometimes experience, and it turns out it's a documented thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome
- nom 10y ago
  Thank you so much for the link! I've experienced it too and always wondered what it's called. It happened multiple times, over a period of a couple weeks. It always occured at the worst time - the moment where you actually fall asleep. It's definitely related to the twitching many people experience during this stage [0], as I thought. It can be really intense: an extremely loud sound, a bright flash of light and jerking of the neck muscles. It became stronger every time it happened - until it suddenly went away completely. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
  - throw_away 10y ago
    In the past, I've also suffered from sleep paralysis, so it's interesting that the two are possibly linked.
    - knz 10y ago
      I used to experience sleep paralysis as a teenager and it was terrifying until I worked out how to end it (stay calm and focus on wiggling a toe). It always left me wondering how many stories about alien abduction etc were related to sleep paralysis. I read once that a feeling of being watched was common with sleep paralysis.
      - stordoff 10y ago
        > I read once that a feeling of being watched was common with sleep paralysis. I've only experienced a couple of times, but that was the most noticeable thing about it. I knew about sleep paralysis before I first experienced, so it didn't really concern me (as soon as I realised I was awake but unable to move, I knew what it was and roughly what to expect), but glancing over to my doorway and seeing a vague silhouette just standing there watching me is somewhat disconcerting nonetheless.
  - svachalek 10y ago
    Interesting, I never knew there was a word for this. I get the "plunging into a bottomless pit" version myself.
- stouset 10y ago
  This seems like the closest thing to describing a thing I sometimes experience, that I call a "glitch" or a "reboot". It feels like there's just a momentary… zap, or something. Maybe akin to pressing the degauss button on a CRT. Just a split-second interruption in normal processing, usually accompanied by a brief popping sound and/or sensory zap. It's hard to explain.
  - lostlogin 10y ago
    I really miss that button.
- travisl12 10y ago
  No, it's definitely real sounds. Generally pipes or creaking staircases.
ucaetano 10y ago
Same here.
werdnapk 10y ago
Those are floaters and flashes... https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-are-floaters-flashes https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-are-floaters-fl...
- nom 10y ago
  No that's something completely different. travisl12 is talking about the 'exploding head syndrome'. edit: no he's isn't, I mixed it up. He's talking about something related to the coupling of visual and auditory senses, e.g. the floor creaks and it causes the sensation of light.
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  No they're not. Why would you think that people would not be able to correlate the visual phenomena with the auditory stimulus? The article you link to doesn't even mention auditory phenomena so I don't know why you thought it would support your claim. Also, please consider that it's extremely rude to just invalidate peoples' experiential claims, although I'm sure you didn't intend your comment in that spirit. Synaesthesia is a well-documented neurological phenomenon and you've just made yourself seem ignorant rather than clever.
scentedmeat 10y ago
I get that all the time too: Someone slams a door when I'm laying down, and it's like a flash going off in my face.
- ihoz 10y ago
  That's Exploding Head Syndrome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome)
  - stephentmcm 10y ago
    Err, no it's not: Individuals with exploding head syndrome hear or experience loud imagined noises as they are falling asleep or waking up. I experience GP's comment as well and it's from real sounds.
rukuu001 10y ago
One more +1
bitwize 10y ago
I experience this too. I'd be close to asleep and the floor may creak, or the radiator may ping, and it will turn into fireworks that look like a particular word in a particular font in a particular color. Freaky stuff.
Cyph0n 10y ago
I see weird flashes when I close my eyes, especially when I close them hard. Not sure if this is a similar phenomenon.
- nom 10y ago
  That's most likely related to the pressure you exert on the retina. Close your eyes and press on you eyeballs, it should be even more intense.
- dghughes 10y ago
  Isn't that a warning sign of a possible or impending detached retina?
  - Cyph0n 10y ago
    I've had it for as long as I can remember, so I don't think so. I do have poor vision though.
nom 10y ago
I had that too. From an engineers perspective it looks like there is a coupling between the auditory and visual system/nerve. It makes sense that it only happens when you are lying in bed because there is no sensory input and the 'gain of the signal amplifier' is at maximum.
- dmix 10y ago
  And if you're tired parts of your brain fall asleep before the entire brain, so you could be more attuned to more primitive sensory effects.
michaelone 10y ago
There is a really cool 360 video of this actually by Discovery VR. Just watched it a couple days ago in my headset and learned about synesthesia. Is this what you have maybe? Seems like a pretty cool super power! ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0
candeira 10y ago
I have to show this post to my wife when she comes back home. She told me once that she remembers seeing colours for every loud noise since she was a kid. She even thought that everybody experienced sound/sight synesthesia the same way, and remembers the day she found out her siblings didn't.
anigbrowl 10y ago
That's the experience I have, except that I don't have to be near sleep. Leafblowers and those 'safety' beeping noises on commercial vehicles are the bane of my life.
jazzabeanie 10y ago
I get this too, but it's always white, and usually flashes from the direction of the sound.
tbabb 10y ago
I get that. It's not just a flash, either; it's usually a highly regular geometric pattern, like a checkerboard or something like [this](http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/poincare/tess_5_4.gif http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/poincare/tess_5_4.gif).
- rangibaby 10y ago
  Do the patterns move or change color?
  - tbabb 10y ago
    No, it's a very bright, instantaneous flash; just a hanful of milliseconds, like a flashbulb going off. There wouldn't be time for movement.
- m-i-l 10y ago
  I get this too. They are slightly more regular and monochromatic geometric shapes than your example. I suspect the shapes may vary according to the loudness and suddenness of the noise, e.g. something big and heavy falling off a shelf in the room vs a car door slamming outside. I suspect I'd also see them in the day time if my eyes were closed, but there is so much other light and sound that the opportunity doesn't really arise. Like you say they are so fleeting that its hard to say the patterns move or change colour, but there might be a brief change as they flash in and fade.
malyk 10y ago
I also have this. Intensity of the noise correlates to the brightness of the flash. Also, it isn't every noise for me. "Sharp" noises, like a door closing or my cat knocking a book off a table, etc make the flash. The heater hummin. Along in the background does nothing.
fizixer 10y ago
Count me in. My LCD monitor gets hot with usage all day, and is next to my bed (very close to my pillow). I turn it off just before going to bed. In a few minutes, the monitor cools down, and the plastic makes a crackling sound. Boom. Flash of light.
jvandonsel 10y ago
Yeah, and the visual patterns seem to somehow relate to the character of the sounds. I've always wondered if I'm seeing a 2D spectrogram of the sound, or something similar.

I'm actually the opposite. In that I see flashes of light when I hear sounds (when my eyes are closed in a dark place). Happens all the time when I'm laying in bed before I fall asleep at night.

knodi123 10y ago

I think that's pretty common. At least, it happens to me, and I've mentioned it to several friends who said "oh yeah, that happens to me too"

shadykiller 10y ago
+1 me too

radmin 10y ago

I also experience this.

throw_away 10y ago

Do you mean sounds that are real or imagined? Reading this article made me look up this phenomenon I sometimes experience, and it turns out it's a documented thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome

nom 10y ago
Thank you so much for the link! I've experienced it too and always wondered what it's called. It happened multiple times, over a period of a couple weeks. It always occured at the worst time - the moment where you actually fall asleep. It's definitely related to the twitching many people experience during this stage [0], as I thought. It can be really intense: an extremely loud sound, a bright flash of light and jerking of the neck muscles. It became stronger every time it happened - until it suddenly went away completely. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
- throw_away 10y ago
  In the past, I've also suffered from sleep paralysis, so it's interesting that the two are possibly linked.
  - knz 10y ago
    I used to experience sleep paralysis as a teenager and it was terrifying until I worked out how to end it (stay calm and focus on wiggling a toe). It always left me wondering how many stories about alien abduction etc were related to sleep paralysis. I read once that a feeling of being watched was common with sleep paralysis.
    - stordoff 10y ago
      > I read once that a feeling of being watched was common with sleep paralysis. I've only experienced a couple of times, but that was the most noticeable thing about it. I knew about sleep paralysis before I first experienced, so it didn't really concern me (as soon as I realised I was awake but unable to move, I knew what it was and roughly what to expect), but glancing over to my doorway and seeing a vague silhouette just standing there watching me is somewhat disconcerting nonetheless.
- svachalek 10y ago
  Interesting, I never knew there was a word for this. I get the "plunging into a bottomless pit" version myself.
stouset 10y ago
This seems like the closest thing to describing a thing I sometimes experience, that I call a "glitch" or a "reboot". It feels like there's just a momentary… zap, or something. Maybe akin to pressing the degauss button on a CRT. Just a split-second interruption in normal processing, usually accompanied by a brief popping sound and/or sensory zap. It's hard to explain.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  I really miss that button.
travisl12 10y ago
No, it's definitely real sounds. Generally pipes or creaking staircases.

ucaetano 10y ago

Same here.

werdnapk 10y ago

Those are floaters and flashes... https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-are-floaters-flashes https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-are-floaters-fl...

nom 10y ago
No that's something completely different. travisl12 is talking about the 'exploding head syndrome'. edit: no he's isn't, I mixed it up. He's talking about something related to the coupling of visual and auditory senses, e.g. the floor creaks and it causes the sensation of light.
anigbrowl 10y ago
No they're not. Why would you think that people would not be able to correlate the visual phenomena with the auditory stimulus? The article you link to doesn't even mention auditory phenomena so I don't know why you thought it would support your claim. Also, please consider that it's extremely rude to just invalidate peoples' experiential claims, although I'm sure you didn't intend your comment in that spirit. Synaesthesia is a well-documented neurological phenomenon and you've just made yourself seem ignorant rather than clever.

scentedmeat 10y ago

I get that all the time too: Someone slams a door when I'm laying down, and it's like a flash going off in my face.

ihoz 10y ago
That's Exploding Head Syndrome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome)
- stephentmcm 10y ago
  Err, no it's not: Individuals with exploding head syndrome hear or experience loud imagined noises as they are falling asleep or waking up. I experience GP's comment as well and it's from real sounds.

rukuu001 10y ago

One more +1

bitwize 10y ago

I experience this too. I'd be close to asleep and the floor may creak, or the radiator may ping, and it will turn into fireworks that look like a particular word in a particular font in a particular color. Freaky stuff.

Cyph0n 10y ago

I see weird flashes when I close my eyes, especially when I close them hard. Not sure if this is a similar phenomenon.

nom 10y ago
That's most likely related to the pressure you exert on the retina. Close your eyes and press on you eyeballs, it should be even more intense.
dghughes 10y ago
Isn't that a warning sign of a possible or impending detached retina?
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  I've had it for as long as I can remember, so I don't think so. I do have poor vision though.

nom 10y ago

I had that too. From an engineers perspective it looks like there is a coupling between the auditory and visual system/nerve. It makes sense that it only happens when you are lying in bed because there is no sensory input and the 'gain of the signal amplifier' is at maximum.

dmix 10y ago
And if you're tired parts of your brain fall asleep before the entire brain, so you could be more attuned to more primitive sensory effects.

michaelone 10y ago

There is a really cool 360 video of this actually by Discovery VR. Just watched it a couple days ago in my headset and learned about synesthesia. Is this what you have maybe? Seems like a pretty cool super power! ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0

candeira 10y ago

I have to show this post to my wife when she comes back home. She told me once that she remembers seeing colours for every loud noise since she was a kid. She even thought that everybody experienced sound/sight synesthesia the same way, and remembers the day she found out her siblings didn't.

anigbrowl 10y ago

That's the experience I have, except that I don't have to be near sleep. Leafblowers and those 'safety' beeping noises on commercial vehicles are the bane of my life.

jazzabeanie 10y ago

I get this too, but it's always white, and usually flashes from the direction of the sound.

tbabb 10y ago

I get that. It's not just a flash, either; it's usually a highly regular geometric pattern, like a checkerboard or something like [this](http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/poincare/tess_5_4.gif http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/poincare/tess_5_4.gif).

rangibaby 10y ago
Do the patterns move or change color?
- tbabb 10y ago
  No, it's a very bright, instantaneous flash; just a hanful of milliseconds, like a flashbulb going off. There wouldn't be time for movement.
m-i-l 10y ago
I get this too. They are slightly more regular and monochromatic geometric shapes than your example. I suspect the shapes may vary according to the loudness and suddenness of the noise, e.g. something big and heavy falling off a shelf in the room vs a car door slamming outside. I suspect I'd also see them in the day time if my eyes were closed, but there is so much other light and sound that the opportunity doesn't really arise. Like you say they are so fleeting that its hard to say the patterns move or change colour, but there might be a brief change as they flash in and fade.

malyk 10y ago

I also have this. Intensity of the noise correlates to the brightness of the flash. Also, it isn't every noise for me. "Sharp" noises, like a door closing or my cat knocking a book off a table, etc make the flash. The heater hummin. Along in the background does nothing.

fizixer 10y ago

Count me in. My LCD monitor gets hot with usage all day, and is next to my bed (very close to my pillow). I turn it off just before going to bed. In a few minutes, the monitor cools down, and the plastic makes a crackling sound. Boom. Flash of light.

jvandonsel 10y ago

Yeah, and the visual patterns seem to somehow relate to the character of the sounds. I've always wondered if I'm seeing a 2D spectrogram of the sound, or something similar.