I discovered my own brand of synesthesia in a different way. In 2007 I experienced a detached retina. I went through months and months of various procedures, surgeries, implants, and therapies. After the dust settled a strange phenomenon occurred. We had just gotten an 8-week old Boston Terrier puppy. One day, the dog was behind me, and let out a high pitched yelp. It startled me, and in that instant, I saw a rather intense splash of bright yellow. It happened every time the dog surprised me with a yelp or bark. In other words, if I saw the dog bark I didn’t see the color, but if she surprised me, I did. Similarly, if someone slammed the door, and the sound surprised me, I would see an intense splash of bright blue. A different pitch, a different color. Different sounds produced different splashes color, red, green, blue, yellow. But I had to be surprised by the loud noise. Colors did not appear if I saw the noises coming. This went on for about four years in varying degrees. Even today, if I hear a loud noise that surprises me I will see a faint color splash. I was interviewed by a scientist from the UK about this phenomenon and was told it had something to do with the cutting of nerves during my eye surgeries, and that caused electrical impulses traveling through the nerves to be misdirected or confused. Yes, it was weird.