Stroke Gives Geordie Woman Foreign Accents

Appollynon

Appollynon

Jedi Master
Just another good example of how the human brain is little understood and capable of the most amazing and strange changes in regulating the workings of the human body.

From the BBC here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/5144300.stm

A Geordie woman has apparently developed foreign accents after waking up following a stroke.

Linda Walker awoke in hospital to find her distinctive Newcastle accent had been transformed into a mixture of Jamaican, Canadian and Slovakian.

The 60-year-old may have Foreign Accent Syndrome, where patients speak differently after a brain injury.

The former university administrator says she hates what has happened to her and now feels like a different person.

Mrs Walker said: "My sister-in-law said that I sounded Italian, then my brother said I sounded Slovakian and someone else said I sounded French Canadian. "But the latest is that I sound Jamaican, I just don't know how to explain it.

"Everybody is obviously hearing me differently".

"I didn't realise what I sounded like, but then my speech therapist played a tape of me talking. I was just devastated."

Researchers at Oxford University have found that patients with Foreign Accent Syndrome have suffered damage to tiny areas of the brain that affect speech.

The result is often a drawing out or clipping of the vowels that mimic the accent of a particular country, such as Spain or France, even though the sufferer has limited exposure to that accent.

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain. She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community.

Different sounds

Dr Nick Miller, a senior lecturer in speech language science at Newcastle University, said the condition could occur in patients who had suffered a stroke or other brain injury. He said: "The stroke has affected the coordination between different muscle groups like the lips, tongue and vocal cords. "The balance has been changed and certain sounds get distorted so vowels and consonants take on different sounds. "Intonation is also affected so sometimes it will fall at the end of a sentence and sometimes it will rise."

Mrs Walker added: "I've lost my identity, because I never talked like this before. I'm a very different person and it's strange and I don't like it.

"It's very hard and I get very upset in my head, but I'm getting better."
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I am one of the many that have Foreign Accent Syndrome and yes it is one of the strange things that science is still trying to understand. I know that SOTT.net has posted several articles related to this topic and believe that no one that has been mentioned in the articles has been willing to discuss this further with the group. For me it has become a personal goal to speak out about this and other rare conditions that often times get swept under the rug, so to speak, in an effort to bring about greater awareness so that others like myself get better treatment and their conditions are easier recognized. I am a huge fan of SOTT.net and would love to see more articles about this and other unusual conditions. I would also like to be able to share how difficult it is for patients with rare conditions to get proper treatment.

It is very true that people that develop FAS do feel as though they have lost a large part of their existence because speech is a big part of our personalities. Unfortunately many doctors do no recognize this and tell patients that have gone through these types of changes that there is 'nothing to be concerned about', they should be happy with their 'beautiful new voice' and other such nonsense. I have heard these types of things as well as other much more degrading comments from so called professionals. Through speaking to other FAS patients they have suffered through much the same treatment. Believe it or not there are many of us that have not been recognized in the current statics because of the treatment that we get from medical professionals.

My FAS developed over 2.5 years ago after a series of severe Sporadic Hemiplegic Migraines that were occurring multiple times per day for a period of over two months. Just for info: Hemiplegic Migraines (either familial or the sporadic version) are similar to a stroke symptomatically. Due to the chemical messages being processed incorrectly and passing through the nerve channels in an erratic manner a person with Hemiplegic Migraines may have severe confusion, coordination difficulties, problems walking, slurred speech or even be unable to speak and paralysis of part of the body. For almost a year after my speech 'changed' I had to carry a pencil and paper with me as even my closest family members frequently could not understand what I was trying to say. After almost 5 months of speech therapy twice per week I finally was able to communicate without having to email across the room to the people that I love. Even now there are times when they still have trouble understanding what I have to say or have to ask me to repeat what I have said multiple times, especially during the period before and after a SHM.

Actually I have three fairly unusual conditions, including Sporadic Hemiplegic Migraines and Foreign Accent Syndrome I also have a genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Because of the journey that I have had being diagnosed I have seen many of the pitfalls of the medical system that exists in the United States. I have also experienced it from the perspective of not having insurance, having private medical insurance and depending on the state funded Medicaid program. No matter which insurance group I have been in I have had serious difficulties finding even modest treatment options. Our current system is set up so that people with chronic conditions are treated as lepers. In many cases it seems as though those who are poor and do not have the means to receive adequate medical care are pushed through a system which promotes genocide to those who may pass their condition on to future generations as a means of taking the stress off of medical care. Those who are under-insured or unable to get medical coverage are frequently told that 'there is nothing that can be done' for their conditions or even told that 'it would be in bad conscience' to treat them and add to their financial burdens.

As a result of seeking answers and better treatment modalities I have met many people with chronic conditions and invisible illnesses. So many of us share the same tales of mistreatment at the hands of the very people that are supposed to be caring for us, mainly the medical professionals that we entrust our care/lives. In addition to inadequate treatment it has become more and more common for doctors to write patients off as malingers, attention seekers, hypochondriacs, drug seekers, or even as having psychiatric conditions instead of investigating the patients symptoms further or taking his/her complaints seriously. Conventional news agencies have failed time and time again to report how seriously the medical system in America has failed the American people. Unfortunately the people that it has failed the most are no longer around to tale their stories.
 
Hi Juliekfrazier,

Welcome to the forum. :) We recommend all new members to post an introduction in the Newbies section telling us a bit about themselves, and how they found their way here. Have a read through that section to get an idea of how others have done it. Thanks.
 
Juliekfrazier said:
For almost a year after my speech 'changed' I had to carry a pencil and paper with me as even my closest family members frequently could not understand what I was trying to say. After almost 5 months of speech therapy twice per week I finally was able to communicate without having to email across the room to the people that I love. Even now there are times when they still have trouble understanding what I have to say or have to ask me to repeat what I have said multiple times, especially during the period before and after a SHM.
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Have you heard about a software called ProLoQuo2Go? It is a speech synthesizer for the Apple iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices. It seems that many people who have difficulty speaking get some benefit from a small device that lets them quickly assemble sentences and then play them out loud. One can also create and store entire sentences (which could be handy for emergency messages.)
_http://www.proloquo2go.com/
 
Juliekfrazier said:
As a result of seeking answers and better treatment modalities I have met many people with chronic conditions and invisible illnesses. So many of us share the same tales of mistreatment at the hands of the very people that are supposed to be caring for us, mainly the medical professionals that we entrust our care/lives. In addition to inadequate treatment it has become more and more common for doctors to write patients off as malingers, attention seekers, hypochondriacs, drug seekers, or even as having psychiatric conditions instead of investigating the patients symptoms further or taking his/her complaints seriously. Conventional news agencies have failed time and time again to report how seriously the medical system in America has failed the American people. Unfortunately the people that it has failed the most are no longer around to tale their stories.
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Hi Juliekfrazier,

Have you checked the health section in this forum? I think you will benefit enormously from doing the diet and the detox. What we eat and the toxins in our environment play a crucial role in the development of chronic conditions, especially "idiopathic" ones. We have amazing testimonials as well.

Thank you for sharing your story.
 
Appollynon said:
Just another good example of how the human brain is little understood and capable of the most amazing and strange changes in regulating the workings of the human body.

From the BBC here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/5144300.stm

A Geordie woman has apparently developed foreign accents after waking up following a stroke.

Linda Walker awoke in hospital to find her distinctive Newcastle accent had been transformed into a mixture of Jamaican, Canadian and Slovakian.

The 60-year-old may have Foreign Accent Syndrome, where patients speak differently after a brain injury.

The former university administrator says she hates what has happened to her and now feels like a different person.

Mrs Walker said: "My sister-in-law said that I sounded Italian, then my brother said I sounded Slovakian and someone else said I sounded French Canadian. "But the latest is that I sound Jamaican, I just don't know how to explain it.

"Everybody is obviously hearing me differently".

"I didn't realise what I sounded like, but then my speech therapist played a tape of me talking. I was just devastated."

Researchers at Oxford University have found that patients with Foreign Accent Syndrome have suffered damage to tiny areas of the brain that affect speech.

The result is often a drawing out or clipping of the vowels that mimic the accent of a particular country, such as Spain or France, even though the sufferer has limited exposure to that accent.

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain. She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community.

Different sounds

Dr Nick Miller, a senior lecturer in speech language science at Newcastle University, said the condition could occur in patients who had suffered a stroke or other brain injury. He said: "The stroke has affected the coordination between different muscle groups like the lips, tongue and vocal cords. "The balance has been changed and certain sounds get distorted so vowels and consonants take on different sounds. "Intonation is also affected so sometimes it will fall at the end of a sentence and sometimes it will rise."

Mrs Walker added: "I've lost my identity, because I never talked like this before. I'm a very different person and it's strange and I don't like it.

"It's very hard and I get very upset in my head, but I'm getting better."
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Appollynon, fascinating!
:wizard:have you heard of Katherine Russell Rich's latest book, "Dreaming In Hindi"?
It is her story about immersing herself in Indian culture for about a year, while learning Hindi. In it she explicates about the many brain changes, DNA changes and consciousness changes one goes through while learning a new language. She does talk about what happens when someone has a stroke and compares it to the brain changes in learning a new language! And, there is much, much more...if you are interested try googling her name and the book title.
She is funny, witty and vulnerable while describing her learning experiences of this exquisite, ancient language. She quotes many experts in the 'learning a foreign language' field from her interviews with these authors and teachers. She herself is an experienced writer/journalist. I wanted to learn another language badly after reading the book. Then I realized that not only can I not do this foreign cultural immersion thing in my life right now, but that in essence I already AM learning another language---my SOULS"S language or the language of 'the Divine Cosmic Mind', as I prepare for the Wave transition. Talk about a foreign cultural immersion! Our very DNA, brains, cells and consciousness changing right now! :grad: ?? Hope so!
 
Thank you all much for comments. With the need to gratify the tummies of the family I have been busy in the kitchen and doing other social 'things' and have had little chance to get back ;).

I will get an intro done here very soon. I have been browsing around the forum here for a while and finally decided to sign up and comment ;).

Psyche, yes I have looked through the health and wellness section of the forums and have read some very interesting items. I have replenished with some detox programs in the past but have not found enough relief to maintain past a year. I am in a bit of a tangle in that I am balancing the hemiplegic migraines and some rather sever pain, primarily from the Ehlers-Danlos as I do have multiple joint dislocations per day and the pain from them can be rather extreme. Because of the genetic condition I do not absorb nutrients or other substances well which I have often wondered isn't the problem with the calcium channel issues that cause the hemiplegic migraines. But getting doctors to research this is not going to happen as I have yet to find a neurologist in my city that even recognizes complicated migraine types.

Will comment more as I have an opportunity but just terribly out of sorts trying to get other things done ;)

Haha I even whipped into the profile info and got my preferred name tag up ;)

/gentle hugs and soothing energies
 
MMM, brain injury followed by foreign accents? Does this suggest entity attachment in some cases? It seems possible. It's the first thing that came to my mind. Especially this incident:
The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain. She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being ostracised by her community.
Click to expand...
 
Am I right in thinking that these people have not lost command of their language and could perfectly express themselves in writing?

Have they even heard the accents they seem to 'imitate' before?

Does the brain, if somehow damaged or disturbed, revert to accents of a former life?

The lady featured on twitter does not only use a foreign accent but syntax as well...
 
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