Hyderabad: A 70 year old illiterate Telugu woman started talking in an American accent out of the blue. While how that came about is unclear, there is speculation among the medical community that she might have been affected by Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS).
FAS is a rare disorder due to a stroke in the brain’s speech area, senior neurologist in the city, Dr Sudhir Kumar said.
Talking about the woman’s predicament, Dr Sudhir said on Twitter, “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”.
An abrupt shift in accent can be a neurological issue and is brought on by damage to the brain’s speech centre, most frequently from a stroke. An accurate assessment and an MRI can support the diagnosis. In most cases, medical care is sufficient. He warned that a changed accent can last a long time.
Her son took her to a psychiatrist after learning that the mother had been under COVID-19 confinement for several months and believed that stress had caused her to have this speech ailment. The psychiatrist sought a neurologist’s opinion after failing to identify any behavioural disorders.
“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),” Dr Kumar added.
Dr. Sudhir emphasised that FAS is an uncommon illness that can be brought on by psychosocial factors as well as head injuries. The old woman was given speech therapy by the doctors as part of her treatment, and after six months her accent gradually became normal.
