Scott Adams hacks his brain to restore his speech

Mark Frauenfelder 9:05 am Wed Oct 25, 2006

Dilbert creator Scott Adams lost the ability to speak 18 months ago. He has something called Spasmodic Dysphonia. His doctor told him that nobody with this condition has ever regained the ability to speak.

But yesterday, Adams reported that he hacked his brain and can speak again!

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.

(Thanks, Cyrus Farivar!)

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