Foreign Accent Syndrome

As it happens I still have a valid login over there. After logging in, when I try to access the thread I merely reach the next obstacle:

Same here.

A new article on the case from the Guardian:

Experience: ‘I woke up with a Welsh accent’

My own family didn’t recognise me when I phoned them

I’ve always been conscious of my accent. In 1996, when I was eight, my family relocated from Kent to Stamford, Lincolnshire, and my estuary accent stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone sounded so northern to me and I was teased for my “EastEnders voice”. I also struggled to copy accents. When I was 14, we went to Lanzarote, and I made friends with two girls from Liverpool and Birmingham. My attempts to emulate their accents left my family in hysterics. “You sound ridiculous,” my dad laughed.

one day in June 2023, I woke up and my voice sounded different. I assumed it would pass, but two days later I still sounded strange. My neighbour said to me: “You sound just like my aunt. She’s from south Wales.”

I was worried my children’s school wouldn’t believe they were really speaking to me if they had to call me in an emergency, so I went in and explained in person. My bank has voice recognition as a security feature, and trying to explain my accent was a challenge. The cashier was confused. “Can’t you put your old accent on?” she asked, before concluding, “You’d probably best avoid telephone banking.”