Girl claims can recognize colors by smell
DEEPTI REGMI, an 11-year-old girl from Nepal, spontaneously developed a peculiar ability last year. She is, inexplicably, able to smell colors, and can supposedly even identify them while blindfolded. Although she does not have an official diagnosis, her ability appears to be related to the sensory phenomena known as synaesthesia.
Synaesthesia causes the person’s senses to become confused, causing sensation to one sensory input (such as the eyes) to stimulate sensation in another (the nose). This is what causes Deepti to smell color, and others to visualize color when they hear music, or to taste flavors when they hear certain sounds. Any combination of this sensory “cross-wire” is possible however, and not at all limited to the examples above.
Deepti Regmi believes that her ability is a gift from God. She has been training to sharpen her sense of smell with the hope that she will eventually be able to use her ability to help the visually impaired. She appears in footage originally posted to Daily Mail identifying colors while blindfolded by sniffing various objects. She is also allegedly able to identify colors printed in a newspaper and read the print by feeling it. The footage was shot by Puskar Nepal, whose occupation and relationship to the Regmi family is unknown.
“I checked the blindfold to ensure that she couldn’t see through it. I was really amazed that she could smell the colors and feel the fonts with her finger with so much ease,” Puskar said. “She’s excellent in her studies too. Both of her parents are very happy with the rare talent their daughter has.”
Around 1 in 2000 people globally are affected by the condition according to the American Psychological Association, and synesthetes are predominately female. The cause of synaesthesia is currently unknown. There does appear to be a genetic factor in some cases, according to APP researchers, but the condition often occurs completely spontaneously as well.
Synesthetes are, unsurprisingly, eight times more likely to work in creative fields, and musicians with synaesthesia are particularly common. Mary J. Blige, Frank Ocean, Tori Amos, Billy Joel, and Pharell Williams have all been diagnosed with the condition. Some famous historical synesthetes are the Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov, the painter Vincent Van Gogh, and the musician Duke Ellington.