Hearing Is Believing

Which would you rather be, blind or deaf?

I remember when we used to play those sort of games when I was younger.  It’s very similar to Shag, Marry, Push Off a Cliff, but a little more morbid. I’m pretty sure I said I’d rather be deaf, and I’m sticking to that answer. Mainly because I’m highly imaginative and if I couldn’t see I’d be constantly interpreting noises in a weird, panic-inducing manner.

At its heart, the question is asking if you are more audio or visual focused. Some of you may have taken tests before to see which way you learn best. For a long time there was this assumption that men were more stimulated by visuals than women. I heartily disagree. I’m not going to go on a long rant of why this is/isn’t true. All I’ll say is check out this video and see if you don’t get some “stimulation.”

Anyway, I’ve always eschewed audio books. When I listen to a lot of talking I zone it out. It doesn’t feel concrete. I can’t remember what they’re talking about or what happened. If I see that same information in writing it’s far easier for me to remember.  I have the same problem with songs. I pretty much never know the lyrics. I can memorize the music pretty quickly, but unless I actually look up the lyrics or see them written down somewhere I’m going to forget them (or remember them completely wrong. I’ve been called out on that multiple times). This has led me to assume that I’m more visually dependent.

So imagine my surprise today when I realized that I generally recognize actors not based on their looks, but their voices. Here’s how it went:

Stardust is on tv (I got really excited about that, which is ridiculous since I own it on DVD) and of course I had to turn it on. I’m watching the first few scenes, waiting for Septimus to show up (he’s my favorite) and only half paying attention as I walk around the living room (I haven’t hit 10,000 steps yet today). Tristan and Humphrey are talking and I get horribly confused, because I keep thinking Henry Cavill is talking. Man of Steel was on at the same time, so I thought maybe I had turned that on without realizing it (I am constantly worried that I am doing things and immediately forgetting them).

It turns out Henry Cavill is in Stardust! I would absolutely never have guessed that Humprey (see left) and Clark Kent (see right) are played by the same guy. My mind has just been blown.

That video above? That actor plays the Hound in Game of Thrones. If someone hadn’t told me that I guarantee I wouldn’t have figured it out, but maybe that’s because he’s not saying anything in that commercial. The same thing actually happened back in the day with the actor that plays Septimus in Stardust. He’s also in Sherlock Holmes, and it was the voice that I recognized. Of course, his voice is very sexy and distinctive, so that could be part of it.

Basically this all feeds in to my secret fear that I do not recognize faces well. Did you know there’s actually a condition where people cannot recognize faces? It was in this one super freaky book I read involving brain manipulation. Clearly, I don’t have that, but I always feel like I utterly fail at recognizing people. I thought that the fact that I could generally pick an actor out proved I had some recognition capacity, but I think it’s actually a combination of voice and movement. The face doesn’t really come into play.

Maybe I’m overthinking it. So far I’ve made it through life without any major problems. And if we're going to play 'what if' type of games, I say: push Humphry off the cliff, marry Clark Kent, and shag Septimus.