A Lilt of Finland in Worcester, Massachusetts: A Case of Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech output disorder characterized by articulation of speech perceived by listeners (often including the patient) as sounding “foreign.” From Monrad-Krohn’s seminal paper in 1947 1 describing a Norwegian woman who, as a result of head trauma, began speaking with a German-sounding accent, several cases of FAS have been reported. Usually occurring in consequence to some brain dysfunction, often stroke, two distinct types of FAS are described: [1] acquisition of an accent the patient was previously unfamiliar with or unexposed to, the unlearned foreign accent, and [2] the reversion to a previously learned accent. In addition to ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and the herald of primary progressive aphasia have all been reported as causes of the foreign accent syndrome.