Creativity is sought after and celebrated in many forms, particularly with artistic endeavors. Creativity can be defined as “the ability to understand, develop, and express in a systematic fashion, novel orderly relationships”. Researchers have described the creative process in various steps, all of which demonstrate the evolution of ideas and expression. Creativity may involve novel connections between brain regions. The novel connections that allow creativity may also occur in synesthesia, in which a sensory stimulus evokes a different sensory experience, such as music evoking shapes or colors.

Both creativity and synesthesia can be acquired from an insult. However, acquiring both creativity and synesthesia simultaneously is extremely rare. We report on acquired synesthesia and improved creativity following TBI in a musician, which illustrates possible neurological pathways linking the two.

This case report details heightened creativity and the development of novel synesthesia in a 66-year-old right-handed musician.

He developed a “compulsion” to write, including the composition of an ensemble piece that he later had no recollection of composing. We have an mp3 of the musical composition. Synesthesia included being able to “see” the notation of music he was hearing and being able to name chord structures with hearing a piece of music, both of which were novel experiences.

Both creativity and synesthesia depend on novel connections in the brain, and both have been reported following insults to the brain, including in degenerative conditions. However, the development of both simultaneously is rare. In addition to