The Unusual Condition of Foreign Accent Syndrome

Have you ever caught yourself accidentally copying the local accent—or just the intonation—when you’re on holiday? Or perhaps you’ve adjusted your accent to fit in when you’re in a new environment?

Some will find their accents change if they live in a new place; others will cling to theirs wherever they are in the world.

But for those experiencing a condition called foreign accent syndrome (FAS), the change may be more sudden, and it may be permanent.

In February 2023, it was reported that a cancer patient in the US had developed an “uncontrollable Irish accent” during treatment. The man had never been to Ireland, and none of his closest relatives were Irish. But he kept the accent until his death.

FAS cases are extremely rare, and scientists think the condition—on its own—is harmless, at least physically.

Mentally, however, waking up with a different accent can lead to a loss of identity, said Julie Matthias in a 2015 interview with the BBC.

Matthias was in a car accident and began suffering from painful headaches afterward. Her accent didn’t change overnight, but in time she lost her English accent and began speaking with the lilt of someone from France and the rhythm of someone whose first language might be Chinese.

Some people think the condition sounds amusing, but Matthias told the BBC there’s nothing funny about it. “It takes away your whole identity,” she said, adding that she has been treated differently by people since.

Like Matthias and the patient from the US, most of those with FAS that researchers know about have suffered some sort of injury or serious illness, usually something that has affected the brain, like a stroke or certain types of cancer.

But experts aren’t sure what exactly causes the accent to change or how best to cure it. In some cases, patients have gotten their accents back through speech therapy. But others have to live with their new voice as research into this mysterious condition continues.