Hello ........Angie: Audio Memory

Post Reply New Topic

I have deficiencies in audio memory. I can’t remember the names most of my workmates without thinking. I am sure that it has implication with my social skills. Even the group I see at work with learning difficulties seem to have no trouble with names.

Does anyone have any tips for improving audio memory( remembering things he cannot see)

I have the same problem although I have found it to be part of a more general short term memory problem. I can't seem to hold on to things I can't see in front of me long enough for it to become part of my long term memory.

What really helps me is to write everything down straight away, although I understand it's not always possible at work, and with names I often don't even manage to understand the whole word until it's been repeated many times.

I have the same problem although I have found it to be part of a more general short term memory problem. I can't seem to hold on to things I can't see in front of me long enough for it to become part of my long term memory.

What really helps me is to write everything down straight away, although I understand it's not always possible at work, and with names I often don't even manage to understand the whole word until it's been repeated many times.

If anyone say write things down, I am going to stick a broomstick up their ass. All the short term memory processes cannot be written down because there is no English translation. Even it was possible, you would be building a rod for your own back.

Many aspies are not fast workers simply because of short term memory.

Just the other day I was on the phone to my boss silent and stimming like mad trying desperately to remember the name of a colleague sitting 3 feet away

WOW! Sounds stupid, but I can certainly relate. I have the same stupid problem. 8-( As for writing it down, I COULD do that, but it IS a crutch, poor form, and I usually don't have the resources.

I don't forget names but I might brain fart badly enough that it looks like I've forgotten. I just don't have the habit of ever repeating names that often. NTs forget names all the time, though.
My mom forgot her husband's name when they married and she had to introduce him to a friend on her honeymoon. NTs forget my name all the time too. Like it's that forgettable.

I'm terrible with names, I need to repeat it a lot before getting it right.

I suspect that my bad memory forces me to come up with formulas as ways of remembering. example 3.141592653589 an average person would just remember this by route. Someone with bad memory would be force to find the formular that drives this number. In this case that number is PI. When one has an understanding of PI then they can take the number all the way down.

I know that writing things down all the time sucks, but once I started doing this, I was alot more organized. My visual memory is awesome, but if I hear verbal instruction I'll retain the first part and lose anything after that. Just today my boss was talking about a complicated Excel spreadsheet and blathering about what it is about, what the formulas do, etc etc. I just nodded like I knew what he meant but it all just sounded like the teacher on the Charlie Brown cartoons ("Wonk, wonk, wonk!"). I didn't sweat it because I knew that when I brought the spreadsheet up on the screen, I'd look at the formulas and fix it in no time, understanding it perfectly-- it was just his talking about it to me without actually looking at it that sent my brain into la-la land. =)

Aspie_Chave, I can relate. My sister has epilepsy(and I have known it for years), but last night I was at a loss for the term.

My mother sells life insurance and suggests this trick: Say the persons name every time you see them. Aloud.

So "Hello Angie", blah blah "angie".. the more you use their name the more it will stick.

Now please spare me the broomstick!

There are mainly two types of STM, visual and phonological. Pure phSTM is not about any meaningful words; it's more like a very short loop of cassette tape (execuse the archaic example), simply recording sound and can only be replayed up to a short span of time if leaft undisturbed, so basically (and technically) you can write it down in the manner of the word book written as /buk/. However, I see you have difficulty, possibly in process of translating what you heard into 'meaninglful English equivalent'. This means you may have problem with some form(s) of long-term phonological memory or retrieval proc. for it.

And the above enforces my suspicion. If you can remember them after thinking, they've been successfully (though possibly with an enormous effort on your part because that learning proccess is where STM is involved) stored, so your main issue is retrieving this long-term knowledge.
As far as I know, this may work: researchers in the field agree that the most effective way to learn words is a imagery method (not sure of the precise term at the moment), and you may be able to apply this to names. For example if you want to learn to tie a name 'Potter' with the so-named, you picture the person in a flower pot with all the gardening gear and so on. The more vivid an image the better. Of course, this does not work with highly abstract names unless you're highly skilled in the art.
Nemonics use some such skills. From what little I know of the skills, this is how it works:
you set up a room or place in your mind and mentally travel inside it each time placing an object that's related to what you'd like to remember. There's whole lot more. Ericcsson (sp?) would be a good reliable source.

Having said that, I also have a name (though not STM) issue and haven't thought of applying any of these. Strange. Lack of motivation?

Last edited by whitedragon on 29 Dec 2007, 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

As for the remaining STM issue, there's some preliminary evidence that it can be trained, so don't despair.
Chunking also works. Just ask them to split the words in groups of up to two syllables or the size you're comfortable with. Like, 'Maha-yana' instead of 'Mahayana' always in the same set of chunks, and don't let them change the tone in which they say the word every time. You get the same effect by saying it aloud yourself.

I'll try to supply the info. source where possible, on demand.
Also, spare me the bloom stick. Ta.

At my work I deal with people I have been working with for 5 yrs and in some cases have known for longer than that.
Many of them are nurses.
To this day, I cannot recall many of their names... they just don't stick.

Do you need to remember their names or you just want to remember their names.

In my case, I just use very general greetings whenever I see people at work whose names I cannot remember.
Everyone there seems to remember my name just fine and this does bother me at times.
I wish I could do better, but I do not need to know all their names.
I also have trouble with some of their faces... I feel like I recognize them but for all I know, they may be brand new nurses I've never met before.
Or I may think they're new but they've been working at the hospital for several years (a co-worker mentioned last night about starting in the lab in '04... I didn't think he'd been here that long... I just don't understand time).

I've tried to repeat names after they were given to me, but there are times when immediately after I was told a name I'm wondering if I am remembering it correctly...
"Hello, my name is Sue."
me thinking in my head - "Um, Sue. Wait... did she say Sue? Maybe it was Kerri. Damn! What did she say her name was?"

Name tags do not always help either. I get really uncomfortable looking for a person's name on their nametag, especially if it's a woman and the tag is fixed or hanging around her breasts. I don't want her thinking I'm staring at her breasts when I'm just trying to read her name.

Writing down things doesn't help because I have to remember to do it after I turn around and start to walk away (wouldn't want to be writing their name down right in front of them ).

The only other option beyond what has been offered here is to use a digital recorder.

Oh.. I got an idea... I'm not sure under what circumstances you are trying to remember co-worker's names, but would it be okay to use a PDA and when you meet someone new put their name into that with a note of where they work?
Seems to me that using an electronic device such as a PDA would not offend the other person so much.
Sorta like entering their email address or phone number into one... except you would be putting their name into it.

and I hope you are using protection for your broomstick! Never can be too careful these days!