What Is Foreign Accent Syndrome?

There are many diseases that cause speech disorders, and some of them are very common. However, there are also rarer diseases such as foreign accent syndrome. Want to know what it is and what causes it? Keep reading to find out!

Foreign accent syndrome causes changes in a person’s speech. However, this syndrome is not yet fully understood and studies are rarely available. However, it can be a sign of severe neurological damage. Cases linking this syndrome to mental disorders have also been reported in the past .

Foreign accent syndrome

It is a rare syndrome that causes speech disorders. The first records of this syndrome can be found from 1907. A patient suffering from this syndrome speaks with an accent different from the patient’s mother tongue, giving the impression that the patient is a foreigner.

Foreign accent syndrome not only affects the pronunciation of a language, but it can also affect sentence formation and vocabulary. There are also cases where it can affect the length of sentences. The strangest thing is that in many cases, the new accent is from a country the person has never even visited.

Causes of foreign accent syndrome

Professionals have long linked this syndrome to neurological problems. This means that the patient is in a situation that has caused a brain injury, such as a stroke. However, there are also cases where the causes of the onset of the syndrome are considered psychiatric or a mixture of both.

Neurological causes

Neurological causes are the most common trigger for this syndrome, but we still do not know exactly all the mechanisms involved. Different neurological observation techniques have shown damage in different areas of the brain : the motor and linguistic regions of the dominant hemisphere.

In addition to stroke, there are other traumas that can damage these areas of the brain. Below we have listed a few:

Head injuries
Aneurysms

Multiple sclerosis
Brian tumors

Cerebrovascular events can cause many different after-effects. Foreign accent syndrome is just one of many.

Psychiatric causes

In recent years, there have been reports of patients with foreign accent syndrome who show no signs of brain damage. However, they have suffered from psychiatric or psychological anxiety. This shows that the syndrome in question is more complex than we thought.

Diseases associated with this syndrome include psychosis, personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. In psychosis, a new accent emerges especially during an active scene. However, it usually also disappears with the scene.

A mixture of both psychological and neurological problems

In such cases, the patient usually initially suffers only from neurological damage to the brain, but later develops some degree of psychological disorder. Thus, the syndrome can be triggered by several factors. This is often characterized as a loss of identity and the development of a new personality.

At this stage, it should be emphasized that the transformation of the syndrome is linked to development and growth. There is evidence of cases in which patients with this disorder do not have brain damage or psychological disorders.

Symptoms of foreign accent syndrome

This syndrome is characterized by changes in the pronunciation of an individual’s language. The individual usually does not notice these changes himself. In such cases, speech may have either segmental or prosodic deficiencies:

Segment Deficiencies: It is possible that you will notice more changes in vowels because patients tend to lengthen or shorten them as they utter words. On the other hand, very subtle changes and pronunciation errors can occur in consonants.

Prosodic deficiencies: This refers to a change in the rhythm of speech and the intonation of different words and sentences. We can notice changes in how a person spells words and uses intonation.

Diagnosis

People who suffer from this syndrome usually do not notice it themselves. Anomalous speech is usually detected by a third party. An expert should diagnose the condition of each individual. However, it can sometimes be difficult because there are many disorders whose symptoms are very similar.

To make a true diagnosis, the doctor must check a person’s medical history, family history, and patient exposure to a foreign language. They should also thoroughly study the facial muscles used to produce speech.

In many cases, various imaging methods are used to diagnose neurological damage. They show brain function and possible disorders. Magnetic resonance imaging and computer-generated axial tomography are the most common of all.

Treatment of foreign accent syndrome

In most cases, pronunciation changes disappear on their own after a few days or weeks, so no medical intervention is required. However, there are cases where the syndrome does not go away and remains in the patient’s life for up to years.

Experts believe this is due to both motor and neurological damage. The form of treatment used for these problems is therapy.

First, the expert focuses on the neurological or psychological problem that is the basis of the disorder.

On the other hand, professionals have demonstrated the effectiveness of language therapies in treating foreign accent syndromes. Language therapy has helped patients get rid of their foreign accent. A study at the University of Malaga in Spain shows that donepezil is useful in the treatment of this syndrome.

The effects of the syndrome on a person’s life

Although foreign accent syndrome does not pose a life-threatening risk to the patient, it can have enormous psychological and social consequences. This is due to the communication problems experienced by the patient. It is often difficult for others to understand what they are trying to communicate.

However, communication problems such as those mentioned above should not be ignored. This is because foreign accent syndrome may be a sign of an underlying neurological or psychological disorder. For those with symptoms like this, it is best to consult an expert as soon as possible.