BY GEORGE NAVA TRUE II
WHEN Sarah Colwill of Plymouth, England, suffered a severe migraine attack in 2010, she called for an ambulance that quickly brought her to a hospital. But when she arrived there, she spoke with a Chinese accent which baffled paramedics.
Luke Sakeld of the Daily Mail said it was more puzzling because Colwill grew up in England and has never been to China. When she spoke to her stepdaughter on the phone, the latter didn’t recognize Colwill because of her strange voice.
Another migraine sufferer, Kay Russell of Bishop’s Cleeve, England, woke up one day in 2011 with a French accent. The grandmother had been suffering from migraines for 20 years and the last attack left her with slurred speech for two weeks. She went to bed and woke up with a new accent, according to The Independent of London.
Lisa Alamia is a Texan of Mexican heritage. But when the housewife speaks, she sounds British. Doug Criss of CNN reported that this happened after she had surgery on her lower jaw in 2016.
Rare speech disorder
Doctors said the three women have foreign accent syndrome (FAS), a rare speech disorder where patients sound like they are talking with a foreign accent. First described in 1907 by the French neurologist Pierre Marie, over 100 cases have been reported worldwide. The term FAS was coined in 1982 by neurolinguist Harry Whitaker.
The best-known case of FAS was reported by Norwegian neurologist Georg Herman Monrad-Krohn who met a patient named Astrid in 1943. The woman suffered a head injury in 1941 during an air raid in World War II. When she recovered, Astrid spoke with a strong German accent and was ostracized by her fellow Norwegians because she sounded like the enemy.
At first, doctors thought that FAS was a psychiatric problem. But in 2002, scientists at Oxford University in England found that other patients had brain abnormalities that caused them to talk differently. These are due to injuries to certain parts of the brain that control language and speech.
While patients appear to be talking in a foreign language, this is not the case, according to Dr. Ronald Kanner, chair of neurology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York. Instead, Kenner explained that people with FAS pronounce words differently which others perceive as a foreign accent.
Rhythm changes in speech
Nick Miller, professor of Motor Speech Disorders at Newcastle University in England, said the changes in the pronunciation and rhythm of speech in FAS patients make others believe that they are speaking in a foreign language.
He explained that the perception of a foreign accent is likely due to pareidolia on the part of the listener. This is a tendency for people to perceive things incorrectly based on their experiences. Examples are seeing shapes in clouds, faces in non-living things or abstract patterns, or hearing hidden messages in music.
Although newspaper reports try to identify the closest language that FAS patients speak in, doctors said that sufferers don’t have a specific foreign accent. Nor are they fluent in a foreign language.
What happens is that patients mistakenly pronounce vowels, making them longer or lower. They move the tongue or jaw differently while speaking, substitute or use wrong words, or stress the wrong words or syllables. There are also changes in intonation and pitch and exaggerations in pitch range.
Types of foreign accent syndrome
There are two types of FAS – neurogenic and psychogenic. The more common type is neurogenic FAS which is caused by damage in the left hemisphere of the brain that is associated with speech. This is due to a stroke or injury.
No brain damage is found in psychogenic FAS, but the patient has a psychiatric problem like schizophrenia, conversion, or bipolar disorder. Some people have mixed-type FAS which have the characteristics of both types.
The Winchester Hospital in Boston added that FAS can also result from a tumor, surgery, migraine, or an allergic reaction. All these contribute to altered pitch, mispronounced syllables, and distorted speech patterns.
FAS is more common in females than males and usually affects people between the ages of 25 to 49. Most patients have other speech disorders like:
* Agrammatism (difficulty using basic grammar)
* Aphasia (the inability to communicate)
* Apraxia (the inability to make sounds, syllables, and words)
* Dysarthria (difficulty controlling speech muscles)
* Mutism (the refusal to speak because of depression or psychological problems)
Foreign accent syndrome can be permanent
Of the FAS cases that have been reported through the years, the most famous patient was the late English singer George Michael. After coming out of a three-week coma caused by pneumonia in 2011, the former Wham! frontman spoke with a new accent, according to Ryan Jaslow of CBS News. Jaslow said Michael sounded like someone from the West Country when he was from north London.
Fortunately, Michael was able to recover from the condition. In others, however, FAS can persist for weeks, years, or even become permanent. Kenner said that speech or language therapy may help in some cases, but there is no guarantee that they will work. In psychogenic cases, the condition may resolve if the underlying problem is treated.
Since preventing stroke might prevent FAS, the Winchester Hospital recommends the following:
* Don’t use drugs
* Drink alcohol moderately
* Eat a healthy diet
* Exercise regularly
* Have your blood pressure checked frequently
* Maintain a healthy weight
* Stop smoking
* Take aspirin if your doctor says so
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National Press Club and Philippine Dental Association awardee George N. True II has written two bestsellers based on his popular column that has been running for almost 40 years. For questions about health, email georgenavatrue@yahoo.com./PN
