An amazing story. Scott Adams of Dilbert Fame had been suffering from Spasmodic Dysphonia for a long time. It’s a devastating condition that renders you, at least partially, unable to speak at all. The story of how his recovery came about is just as interesting as the condition itself and what it does to you.
The day before yesterday, while helping on a homework assignment, I noticed I could speak perfectly in rhyme. Rhyme was a context I hadn’t considered. A poem isn’t singing and it isn’t regular talking. But for some reason the context is just different enough from normal speech that my brain handled it fine.
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack jumped over the candlestick.I repeated it dozens of times, partly because I could. It was effortless, even though it was similar to regular speech. I enjoyed repeating it, hearing the sound of my own voice working almost flawlessly. I longed for that sound, and the memory of normal speech. Perhaps the rhyme took me back to my own childhood too. Or maybe it’s just plain catchy. I enjoyed repeating it more than I should have. Then something happened.
My brain remapped.
My speech returned.
Not 100%, but close, like a car starting up on a cold winter night. And so I talked that night. A lot. And all the next day. A few times I felt my voice slipping away, so I repeated the nursery rhyme and tuned it back in. By the following night my voice was almost completely normal.
When I say my brain remapped, that’s the best description I have. During the worst of my voice problems, I would know in advance that I couldn’t get a word out. It was if I could feel the lack of connection between my brain and my vocal cords. But suddenly, yesterday, I felt the connection again. It wasn’t just being able to speak, it was KNOWING how. The knowing returned.
Fascinating stuff. My wife was totally into this being a speech teacher, and seeing such a real-world example of such an obscure condition was interesting for both of us.
As for Scott Adams, congratulations and I’m very happy for you and your family. I didn’t even know you had this condition to begin with, but I’m glad you’re on your way to not having to deal with it anymore.
via Pop Candy
[tags]scott adams, spasmodic dysphonia[/tags]