An English woman has suffered great distress after coming through a stroke only to lose her accent.
The woman from the north of England, who had a very distinctive "Geordie" accent, now speaks with what some hear as an Eastern European accent and others hear as Jamaican. She is one of only 50 people to have suffered from foreign-accent syndrome, which was first recorded in Norway during the Second World War.
Linda Walker said: "I was devastated. I don't sound like me. It is so strange because you don't feel the same person. Not only did I have a stroke but I got lumbered with this foreign accent syndrome as well.
"I want my own voice back. It's like losing a big part of your identity. You don't feel like the same person any more."
Foreign-accent syndrome occurs after substantial brain injury and is not always correctable through speech therapy.
