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Spontaneous Foreign Accent

Health Trends

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21:43

Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) affects less than 100 people worldwide, but even so, it's disturbing enough to those who have it that there's a website devoted to "FAS support."  According to the website, where you can hear samples of FAS-altered speech, "FAS is a speech disorder that causes a sudden change to speech so that a native speaker is perceived to speak with a ‘foreign" accent. The change can come about as a result of stroke, a bop on the head, brain injury, migraine headache, multiple sclerosis, or apparently, anesthesia.  The causes of the bizarre condition aren't clear to scientists, although they suspect that victims suffer from a mini-stroke that alters their speech centers.  The good news is that in most cases, the syndrome does not last long.  Find out more in this podcast! 

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Comments

Submitted by Dawn (not verified) on August 30, 2011 - 11:23pm.

A few years back, I was having a conversation with my daughter and friend. In the middle of our conversation, my accent changed from a Southern Accent to a British Accent. There was no known reason for this. I did not have a head ache, anestethic or stroke.It came and went just as mysteriously. Since then, I usually have my normal accent, but occationally, I get asked by strangers if I am from Ireland or Scotland. But, I don't notice any difference.

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**Jon Barron is the resident health expert for the "Healthy Trends" radio show in LA, 1680 AM, where this show was aired live. To get the latest health news delivered to your MP3 player or iPod, subscribe to our free health podcast here.

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