When I woke up, my Henan accent changed to a Northeastern accent. This disease is so socially destructive.

Recently, an overseas student blogger named "I am a Little Monster" released a video saying that after being infected with the new coronavirus, she suddenly found that she could no longer speak her hometown dialect, Henan dialect, but instead spoke with a strong northeastern accent. This phenomenon aroused everyone's curiosity and widespread discussion.

Image source: B station I am a little monster

Or maybe you’ve heard of this urban legend: someone had an accident that resulted in a head injury, and when they woke up after surgery, their accent was very different from before, or they even suddenly mastered a foreign language…

Could this be some kind of supernatural event of "soul crossing over, taking over another body", with another soul taking up residence in the body?

No, he most likely suffers from "foreign accent syndrome".

What kind of weird syndrome is this?

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS), also known as foreign accent syndrome, is a rare motor speech disorder, often manifested as changes in speech rhythm and prosody.

A sudden change in accent after a stroke or even waking up to speak a foreign language after a car accident could be a sign of foreign accent syndrome, which has been reported since 1907.

The concept of "FAS (Foreign Accent Syndrome)" was first coined by Whitaker, who also proposed a series of diagnostic criteria:

1

Patients, acquaintances, and researchers thought the accent sounded foreign;

2

The existing accent/language is different from the native language before the brain injury;

3

There is a clear association with central nervous system damage;

4

There was no evidence that the patient was previously accustomed to speaking the foreign language.

The first case report in China was in 1995, when the Department of Neurology of Dongchang Hospital in Liaocheng, Shandong reported two cases of accent changes caused by stroke.

One of the patients' accent changed from the Shandong Chaping County dialect to the Jinan accent, while the other patient's accent changed from the original Shandong Gaotang County dialect to atypical Mandarin after he regained consciousness.

How did you get this syndrome?

Foreign accent syndrome is mostly caused by neurogenic causes. Clinical examination can reveal obvious abnormalities in brain structure, which is commonly known as "broken brain". A small number of cases are caused by psychological factors, often accompanied by mental symptoms such as anxiety and depression. Even if clinical examination does not find any lesions different from normal people, the patient will still have a change in accent.

Most FAS cases reported abroad are caused by stroke, including cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage. In addition to symptoms of hemiplegia, some patients may also experience changes in accent or speech type.

For example, in 1907, Marie reported the world's first case of accent syndrome: a patient in Paris suffered a stroke and first developed right-side hemiplegia, and then found that his speech had magically changed to a London accent.

In 1919, Pick first recorded a Czech case in some detail: the patient developed a Polish accent after a left-sided cerebral stroke.

Image source: Campbell BCV, Khatri P (literature) The image shows a right-sided brain lesion, which is inconsistent with the left-sided brain stroke mentioned above.

The most common cause of case reports in China is head trauma, accounting for more than 50%, often caused by accidents such as traffic accidents and falls, and a small number of cases occur after brain tumor surgery. FAS caused by cerebrovascular accidents only accounts for 32.65%.

In recent years, with the increasing number of case reports, FAS caused by psychological factors has attracted more and more attention.

Psychogenic FAS is also known as functional FAS and psychosomatic FAS. Verhoven and Mariën define it as another manifestation of underlying psychological problems.

Image source: Documentary Killer Stress

This includes FAS cases in which no lesion can be identified after careful clinical neurological examination and there is a clear psychological factor, as well as FAS cases in which existing neurological damage cannot explain the language changes.

Specifically, there is no known cause for the change in accent. Before the accent change occurs, the patient usually experiences a major life change or develops psychiatric symptoms such as mania, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.

Let’s just say, is there any hope?

The causes of foreign accent syndrome in patients can usually be traced back to abnormal brain structure or emotional function. After treatment of brain lesions such as brain trauma and stroke, or effective intervention for mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, the symptoms of foreign accent syndrome will generally resolve on their own.

An analysis of the clinical characteristics of 49 patients with foreign accent syndrome in China showed that most FAS patients have a good prognosis. Even without intervention and treatment for foreign accent syndrome, more than 70% of patients' symptoms gradually improved. Most of the time, the symptoms improved within 3 months, and even more than 10% of the patients gradually returned to normal within 1 week. Only a very small number of patients continued to have abnormal accents.

Studies have also shown that acupuncture treatment of the Baihui and emotional areas can refresh the brain, dredge the qi and blood, stimulate the speech center of the cerebral cortex, and accelerate the recovery of the patient's language function. At the same time, patients can undergo speech rehabilitation training and receive psychological counseling, which will help restore the original voice as soon as possible and minimize the impact of FAS on daily life.

After learning about "foreign accent syndrome", we have successfully used science to explain a seemingly fantastic phenomenon. Even if your accent changes accidentally, you don't have to worry too much. Stay optimistic and actively solve the primary disease, and the familiar accent will soon return to you.

References:

1.Whitaker, HA (1982). “Levels of impairment in disorders of speech,” in Proceedings of the NATO Advances Study Institute of Neuropsychology and Neurocognition, Augusta, Georgia, 8-18th September 1980. eds R. Malatesha and L. Hartlage (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff), 168–207.

2. Chang Liguo, Zhang Shourui, Qin Shaolin, Yang Xiafeng, Lei Changying. Report of 2 cases of foreign accent syndrome caused by stroke[J]. Chinese Journal of Practical Internal Medicine, 1995(05):312.

3. Ni Chuanbin, Liu Zhi. Analysis of clinical characteristics of 49 Chinese patients with foreign accent syndrome[J]. Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice, 2013, 19(10): 984-987.

4.Verhoeven J, Mariën P, Engelborghs S, D'Haene H, and De Deyn P P. (2005). A foreign speech accent in a case of conversion disorder. Behav. Neurol. 16, 225–232. doi: 10.1155/2005/ 989602

5. Huang Xiaoyuan, Sun Shentian. A case of acupuncture treatment for foreign accent syndrome[J]. Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, 2007(07):39.6. Campbell BCV, Khatri P. Stroke. Lancet. 2020;396 (10244):129-142.

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Review expert: Yin Tielun, deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology, Airport Campus, Peking University Third Hospital.

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo