Transcript of ‘A Stroke Left Me With an Italian Accent’ | This Morning

if you spend a bit of time abroad with someone who's got a lovely Regional accent Not Unusual to find yourself picking up on the old local word or phrase isn't that right baps yes BBS uh it certainly is but imagine waking up one day to find yourself speaking in a completely different accent than your own that is exactly what's happened to 58-year-old althia Briden from North London after suffering a stroke last year Alia was shocked at Discover she just stly suddenly started in a talking rather sorry in a fullblown Italian accent and what's even more shocking not only does althia not speak a word of Italian she's never even been to Italy she joined us now alongside her husband Winston hi guys good morning thank for joining us thank you so much Alia tell us a little bit about what happened you sadly suffered a stroke right yes I is right and I don't remember this stroke so much Winston will have to tell you about this you know I have no memory of it really but um I can tell you afterward let him tell you the beginning I will tell you the end okay so Winston you went downstairs right like night you went downstairs for a drink you came back and well I was downstairs for about 10 minutes or so and by the time I came back up I realized that something wasn't right cuz she was kind of slumped in the bed cuz I left her sitting up but where she was position wise she was like you just knew something wasn't right yeah so I started asking her can you hear me no response and then I asked do you know where you are still no response so from that point I knew something was wrong frightening yeah very frightening so you got her to hospital and then they let you know that she's had a stroke yeah and then what happened from there um she couldn't speak so she was unable to respond um so they did some tests um came back and said that she needs to be treated straight away which was surgery wasn't it well the surgery came after um but they said that um she needs to have this treatment so therefore they can stop the bleeding on on the brain um so while she was there I think they kind of done it as quickly as possible because they're saying the sooner as she gets the treatment the better a let's bring you in when do you what do you remember what's your first memory after having the stroke he I just remember to wake up into a world but I didn't know why I was there you know when St telling me my family telling me I have a stroke I wasn't really sure where I was at the time as well you know I didn't realize that I'd been taken from my house from my bed none of this you know a big surprise and can you talk at this time or not no I'm not at this time that must be terrifying to hear all this stuff and not be able to say a word to not I'm just pointing pointing pointing to things all the time you know you can you obviously can understand everything and yes but nothing can come from my mouth you know I'm just like this but then you ask about the speech now um it was August the 1 of August you know I have a surgery and I don't know if you can see this carard can you see yeah we can see okay so um there was something growing in my neck is it a cared web is it yes so they tell me it was stopping the blood flow to the brain yeah and so this is the reason for my stroke yeah so they remove it on the 1st of August and then for two days I'm into intensive care because my blood pressure was very low and the next day you know they move me to a w the nurse comes to wake me to do blood pressure again you know because I wor about it yeah so I hear this voice I've not he my voice for a long time you know I'm like this who is it you know I didn't realize it was me so you're speaking and you think it's somebody else talking I look behind me in my hospital bed always speaking to me you know why is this it was a big shock for me oh my good so I said maybe you know because she frighten me from my sleep you know in hospital they work you so early in the morning to do all of these things break your sleep could sleep but maybe I'm Dreaming yes that is it and then um later I go back to sleep they wake me again to do medication okay and ask me what do I want to eat and again I he this voice now I know it's me you know and they said to me you're speaking you're speaking everybody is so happy about this by say why am I speaking like this you know this make no sense to me you know I'm very happy but it was too much what is happen I can't imagine how shocking that would be for yourself but also Winston when you arrived what what did you think cuz obviously she's not spoken for a while when I came to the ward and I was walking in I looked at her and I said hi darling and then she said I hi bab but the way how she said it I was like yeah I actually he take a step back from me and for myself what's going on then I said are you okay and she spoke again and I was like must have been so weird it's like somebody's taken over like another character it's so strange cuz like on one hand you just must be grateful right your back you can talk what's wrong with you is like you know they've got rid of it right but now you just want your your normal accent back right yes I live my life is like contradiction you know I'm happy to speak when I couldn't speak before I was very sad very distressed as well you know very stressful for this to be happening to me but now I can speak I'm looking for my old sound but it's nowhere to be found so for me you know I feel like a stranger in my own body you know and nobody can tell me what is happening to me I keep say to everybody why is happening to me why that speak like this nobody can tell me got the justications Inc why this is that I have no clue also as accents go look it could be worse I mean it's a nice accent to have that is true but still you know know I get it you want your own ACC I want to know what you sounded like before can we can we have a look have you sent us a video yes I do I sent let's have a look okay good evening good night good morning whatever time of day is hope everybody's okay par this is my girl man I'm the young one just saying that's unbelievable yes so I miss this you know of course you do but um I would say to you more recently now I have to realize it is a blessing because you know I think about the fact I couldn't speak before but now I'm like this you know and then I don't want to be ungrateful for my blessing you know you know I like the sound of it actually soundful we want to bring in nick uh this is Nick Miller Professor Nick Miller is a retired um emirus is that right professor in neuroscience at the University of Newcastle um you're an expert in this Nick so good to have you thanks for joining us can you explain what foreign accent syndrome is and how it works yeah well you've uh already got the essence of it that it's the label given to the U instances where somebody has a stroke or some other neurological disorder and they suddenly start sounding as if they're speaking with a foreign accent of a language they've never spoken before never been to that country never associated with anybody with that language and in cases of stroke or other neurological disorders what's what's happening there is that if it's affected parts of the brain that control your speech your tongue and your lips and your vocal cords and everything that affects the the strength of movements the speed of movements the range of movements ments of your tongue and the lips and that in turn Alters the way your speech sounds so subtle changes to particular sounds or the rhythm of speech so for instance uh somebody might say they're they're using a PIN to uh to write with and they use a pen to fry their sausage and eggs in and so toing a pin and Pen you might The Listener might think oh that sounds a bit like New Zealand accent to me or or the person has problems because of the stroke with K sounds and B sounds and they're saying instead of cat they're saying cat instead of big they're saying big and so they say big cat and you think oh that sounds Eastern European or something to me rather than uh English or another way that that speech might order after stroke is that uh you start adding extra sounds in or the rhythm of your speech changes so instead of saying stamp you say stamp or instead of saying a big building you say big a building and maybe that's a bit uh thinking what that that's a bit how alumite spech she adding the extra sounds in and the rhythm of a speech is sounding and so listeners think ah that sounds italan how an Italian learner of English would would sound to me but in actual fact if if you analyze the speech sounds and it's it's the same as all speak speakers after uh stroke who have got differences to their speech are making these differences it's just that uh in the ear of certain listeners because they they home in on particular changes which they associate more with the foreign accent than with sounding as if somebody's uh got a neurological disorder so so that that that's one uh big cause of somebody suddenly uh talking with what sounds like a foreign accent and it's the important thing being it's as much in the ear of The Listener as it is in the mouth of the speaker but sometimes um people would start to talk uh with a foreign accent due to a functional neurological disorder functional movement disorder and what's going on there is that the symptoms the way the the speech sounds it sounds if you've had a stroke or something but when you do all the tests they all come back negative you've not got you've not had a stroke you've not got a brain tumor or whatever and the the kind of understanding there of what's happening is that it's an interaction between the psychological and biological factors so and we've all experienced this so it's where a response uh of to a particular situation causes particular biological reactions in so stomach ache and feeling sick before some important exams splitting headache when you come home after a a stressful day at work or um honestly it's absolutely fascinating we have run out a little bit of time hopefully there is is there a cure can we just have a simple answer with regards a cure is there a cure yeah the prognosis is good either direct treatment addressing how uh how to produce particular sounds that that are making you sound foreign or in especially in the case of functional neurological disorders functional F accent syndrome um more likely a talking therapy like cognitive behavior therapy where you're taking back control over your symptoms control over how how you speak whatever oh thank you Nick thank you for joining us Alia and Winston thank you for joining us it's an absolute fascinating story thank so thank you for visiting our this morning YouTube channel we upload new content every day so go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out and we'll see you in the morning