Also face blind - I use voice as primary clue, not just pitch but intonation and vocalization patterns. I’m a big language nerd and a natural mimic, so vocal qualities stick out nicely for me and are often the only clue I need. After that I keep a list, basically, of feature descriptions that “are” a person, because oh joy, I also am aphantasic and can’t just pull up some reference image, even if individual features (possibly somewhat related in my case)
I get a LOT of false positive hits on sight alone, but with vocal cues I’m rarely mistaken.
Going missing in crowds because I don’t remember/know what the person is supposed to be wearing so I can’t recognize them on sight is the worst, and I’m short so I only see a few options at a time in a sea of people. It’s super un-fun. Fortunately by now everyone I know is fully aware that I don’t actually recognize them most of the time, and so they go looking for me.
The worst for me is when I see someone who flags all the descriptor traits for a person I haven’t seen in a while, and I don’t know if I actually know them or just have that feeling, so I feel compelled to talk to them to sort out why they feel familiar. It happens kinda a lot, especially with women who resemble my late mother, which is a uniquely uncomfortable feeling, so I don’t actually talk to those people knowing I’m probably wrong, but man that compulsion…
Also face blind - I use voice as primary clue, not just pitch but intonation and vocalization patterns. I’m a big language nerd and a natural mimic, so vocal qualities stick out nicely for me and are often the only clue I need. After that I keep a list, basically, of feature descriptions that “are” a person, because oh joy, I also am aphantasic and can’t just pull up some reference image, even if individual features (possibly somewhat related in my case)
I get a LOT of false positive hits on sight alone, but with vocal cues I’m rarely mistaken.
Going missing in crowds because I don’t remember/know what the person is supposed to be wearing so I can’t recognize them on sight is the worst, and I’m short so I only see a few options at a time in a sea of people. It’s super un-fun. Fortunately by now everyone I know is fully aware that I don’t actually recognize them most of the time, and so they go looking for me.
The worst for me is when I see someone who flags all the descriptor traits for a person I haven’t seen in a while, and I don’t know if I actually know them or just have that feeling, so I feel compelled to talk to them to sort out why they feel familiar. It happens kinda a lot, especially with women who resemble my late mother, which is a uniquely uncomfortable feeling, so I don’t actually talk to those people knowing I’m probably wrong, but man that compulsion…