70-year-old woman with rare disorder talks Telugu in American accent
Sudden change in accent can be a neurological problem and it is caused by damage to speech area of brain, most commonly by stroke.
Hyderabad: Can a 70-year-old illiterate woman, with no known relatives in United States, suddenly start talking Telugu in American accent after waking up one fine morning? While it may sound strange but it is entirely plausible that the woman might have Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a rare disorder due to a stroke in the brain’s speech area, senior neurologist from Hyderabad, Dr Sudhir Kumar, on Monday said.
The neurologist in the microblogging site Twitter gave the example of the elderly woman who suddenly started conversing Telugu in an American accent.
When an old woman started speaking in a “foreign” accent all of a sudden
1. About a year back, a 70-year old woman was brought by her son to my OPD. As per him, she had started to speak Telugu in an “American” accent, since waking up that morning. #MedTwitter #NeuroTwitter— Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM🇮🇳 (@hyderabaddoctor) December 12, 2022
Sudden change in accent can be a neurological problem and it is caused by damage to speech area of brain, most commonly by stroke. Proper evaluation and MRI can confirm the diagnosis. Medical treatment suffices in most. Changed accent may persist for long, he said.
Describing the woman’s medical condition, Dr Sudhir tweeted “A year ago, the woman was brought by her son. As per him, she had started to speak Telugu in an American accent, since waking up that morning. She was illiterate and had no relatives or friends from USA and never travelled to USA”.
The woman had been confined to home for several months due to Covid lockdown and her son took her to a psychiatrist, thinking she had developed this speech abnormality due to stress. Psychiatrist could not find any behavioural disorder and wanted a neurologist opinion.
“Tests revealed a problem with her speech, which was slow, and she had difficulty in clearly pronouncing words. It felt as if she was speaking Telugu in an American English accent. Brain MRI showed a small acute infarct in left frontal area (speech area of brain),” he said.
Dr Sudhir pointed out that FAS was rare disorder and can be caused by head injury and psychological causes. The doctors treated the elderly woman by putting her on speech therapy and gradually her accent improved and became normal after six months.
