Good Morning Sunday with Neil Harbisson – I Listen to Color

They say, “Life is full of colors, but some see it in black and white”. Little did I understand the phrase till I heard this Ted Talk by Neil Harbisson.

I am still trying to absorb his talk as I write this post.

Neil was born with a rare visual condition called achromatopsia, which is total color blindness. No not the color blindness concept that we know of ie. shades of maroon look red, shades of violet look mauve.

He was born completely color blind, when I say completely I mean completely color blind. He has never seen color or any colored pictures, he does not know what color looks like. The only color he can see is shades of grey or black and white.

As Neil says, “The sky is always gray, flowers are always gray and television is still black and white”. But that did not stop him from being an Artist.

An Artist that can portray colors without having any ability to see colors…Amazing.

With the help of a prosthetic device attached to his head, he can hear the spectrum of colors. The device transposes the light frequencies of color hues into sound frequencies and helps Neil listen to color.

When Neil visits an art gallery he can listen to colors like a symphony, watching a Picaso painting is like visiting a concert. A walk down the super market is like visiting a night club with full of melodies.

After listing to Neil, I started valuing my ability to see colors. My bedroom wall is green, my T shirt is red, the sky is blue…Thanking you God for all the colors in our life.

Neil’s talk is awesome, he has an amazing attitude towards life…What an inspiration to the artist in all of us.

Have a Super Sunday and a colorful week ahead 🙂