“Foreign Accent Syndrome”: Texan speaks with a Russian accent after surgery

Abby Fender woke up after her disc surgery to find her voice “paralyzed”. Her Texan accent was gone. A week later, she reports, she suddenly spoke with a strong Russian accent – without ever having been there.

At first the doctors were at a loss until they finally diagnosed the 39-year-old with Foreign Accent Syndrome. The phenomenon is so rare that only 50 to 100 cases are known worldwide.

Accent changes – from Russian to Ukrainian and Australian

“I woke up after my surgery and knew immediately that something was wrong with my voice because I couldn’t speak out loud,” theIndependent‘ from an interview by NeedToKnow.online. “Soon I felt the pitch of my voice going very, very high and we called it the Russian Minnie Mouse voice that made me sound like a cartoon character the whole time.”

Over time, her accent would have changed too – from Russian to Ukrainian and Australian.

“Foreign Accent Syndrome”: Only 50 to 100 cases worldwide

But what is actually behind it? “Of course, people can’t miraculously speak a foreign language,” explains general practitioner Christoph Specht to the broadcaster.RTL“. With foreign accent syndrome, patients suddenly speak their mother tongue with a supposedly regional or foreign accent. According to the doctor, only about 50 to 100 cases are known worldwide.

Most of the time, the altered way of speaking is due to brain damage resulting from a stroke or injury. Rarer causes include brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and schizophrenia.

Specht says foreign language accent syndrome is due to damage to the language motor center.

Constant “Where are you from?” – and subtle racism

Pronunciation with an accent falsely gives the impression that those affected are not native speakers. This is also reported by Abby Fender. “Where are you from?” – she hears this question about ten times a day.

Not everyone is friendly about it, she says and describes, among other things, a case of racism. “A police officer once told me, ‘You know, we don’t drive like that here. Wherever you’re from, it might work.’”

Fender, who worked as a professional singer before the operation, also suffers professionally. She could no longer hold her voice, and the tone was different. “I’m really scared that I’ll never be able to speak normally again,” she says.

Doctor gives Abby Fender hope

Medicinal speaking, on the other hand, does not rule out the possibility that Abby Fender will find her way back to her Texan way of speaking. The Foreign Accent Syndrome will go away on its own or with speech therapy, as the young woman is already doing. “That can help quite a bit. But some people have to work hard to get rid of the accent,” he says. It’s not easy because the motor language center has to be retrained. Younger people, like the Texan, who is only 39, have an advantage.

There is already a first ray of hope. Abby Fender reports that her singing voice has come through a bit through speech training with a speech therapist. It’s not permanent, but it’s a first step.