To test subjects’ performances, a number of standardized tests are presently available such as the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT), which targets the ability to recognize the same face from different points of view and under noisy configurations (e.g., Gaussian noise added to the pictures) therefore, this test recruits a stage of processing which does not require any judgment on the familiarity of the stimuli (Duchaine & Nakayama, 2006). At the opposite extreme, there are individuals with extremely good performance in recognizing faces (“super recognizers”) (Russell, Duchaine, & Nakayama, 2009). This deficit, referred to as prosopagnosia, or “face-blindness,” can be present at birth (“developmental phonagnosia”) or acquired after lesions occurring in the ventro-temporal cortex (Barton, 2008). At the lowest extreme of this distribution, there are subjects characterized by an impaired performance in recognizing faces, which have been extensively documented in the literature (Avidan et al., 2014 Avidan, Hasson, Malach, & Behrmann, 2005 Avidan & Behrmann, 2009 Behrmann, Avidan, Gao, & Black, 2007). The ability to recognize familiar faces and match two identical facial configurations between them varies from subject to subject, showing a broad spectrum of individual differences in the normal population.

By providing normative data of a large sample and by testing a developmental phonagnosic subject, we demonstrated that the Glasgow Voice Memory Test, available online and accessible from all over the world, can be a valid screening tool (~5 min) for a preliminary detection of potential cases of phonagnosia and of “super recognizers” for voices. As expected, KH showed a dissociation between the recognition of voices and bell sounds, her performance being significantly poorer than matched controls for voices but not for bells.

The distributions of accuracy and sensitivity scores (d’) reflected a wide range of individual differences in voice recognition performance in the population. The inclusion of non-vocal stimuli allows the detection of significant dissociations between the two categories (vocal vs. One thousand one hundred and twenty subjects as well as a developmental phonagnosic subject (KH) along with age-matched controls performed the Glasgow Voice Memory Test, which assesses the ability to encode and immediately recognize, through an old/new judgment, both unfamiliar voices (delivered as vowels, making language requirements minimal) and bell sounds.

4.06 voice activity