Woman Unable To Recognize Voices, Unless It's Sean Connery

A 60-year-old British woman is suffering from a neurological defect that is sure to put her in the next version of "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." She is unable to recognize any voice she hears — any voice, that is, but Sean Connery's. Unless she sees the face of the person speaking, she has no idea who is talking to her, even her daughter and co-worker's voices are unrecognizable. Dr. Brad Duchaine at University College London, thinks she might have the first documented case of vocal prosopagnosia, a condition which makes it extremely difficult for people to recognize faces. "His accent is distinctive," Duchaine explained. "And she is a British woman in her sixties ... let's say it's probable he got her attention."

Comments

Sounds similar to face blindness

[Anonymous Coward]

Saw the headline and was reminded of Prosopagnosia (face blindness). People who have this are completely unable to recognize faces or distinguish between different faces. All they see is a collection of face parts, never the whole pattern. Totally fascinating. Apparently they have to rely on other clues to identify other people, like hairstyles, clothing, and ... voices. Crazy stuff.