British Woman Wakes Up With French Accent

LONDON (CBS) — Kay Russell will never forget the night she went to bed with a severe migraine, and woke up with what she thinks is a French accent.

Last January, doctors diagnosed her with Foreign Accent Syndrome, an extremely rare condition that can happen after a brain injury or a stroke.

"They might not say 'water' and 'where' and 'what' anymore," explains Neuropsychologist Dr. Nicholas Miller. "They say 'vater' and 'vere' and 'vat.'"

There are thought to be only 60 cases in the world. One of the first recorded cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome was during World War II, when a Norwegian woman was hit by shrapnel during an air raid. She suffered brain damage and developed a strong German accent.

For Kay, neurologists think her migraine damaged part of the brain that controls her speech.

Doctors who have been treating Kay at Newcastle University say it may sound like she's speaking with a foreign accent, but it's basically a speech impediment that comes across as a French accent.

"It's not just in the mouth of the speaker, it's in the ear of the listener as well; so it's how the listener interprets the accent, the altered speech," says Dr. Miller.

Kay says she's lost more than her old voice, she's lost her identity.

"Oh, big time!" Kay says. "I feel a total loss of myself. That is the hardest part about this."

There's no telling how long Kay will have to live with her new voice. The condition can last weeks, months, or forever.

Doctors say there is no cure.

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