Woman who woke up with Welsh accent finally gets her old voice back

'It has been four days. I am not sure what is going to happen going forward.'

An English woman who randomly woke up with a Welsh accent has finally got her old accent back.

Zoe Coles, 36, from Stamford, Lincolnshire, developed the Welsh accent in June 2023 and it has taken her a year to get her old accent back on July 2 this year.

She was previously diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome – a condition where there is a problem with how the brain sends and receives signals and this is thought to have caused her accent change.

But Zoe now feels ‘disorientated’ because she fears the Welsh accent might return.

‘It has been four days. I am not sure what is going to happen going forward,’ she said.

‘Watching videos of me speak in this new accent is really difficult, and now it is difficult to watch myself with a Welsh accent.

‘It is really very strange for me.

‘I thought with it being a year since my accent changed the Welsh accent would be permanent.

‘Who knows what is going to happen.’

Zoe suffers with ticks, memory problems, slurred speech and pain in her legs because of the condition.

She previously said: ‘I was a full-time working mum, I could get up and clean the house in two hours, have a shower, get ready, go shopping, go to work and come home.

‘Now I have to be assisted in the shower in case my legs go on me, I can’t do the house work in two hours it is more like two days.

‘I get so tired so quickly, I can do the shopping because I can hold the trolly but I can’t do much more.

‘It completely wipes me out.’

She added: ‘I want to raise awareness and show that this is real life.

‘I am speaking out because I want people to see that these things really do happen.

‘This is a reality for me as much as I don’t like it, I love the accent and I have adapted to it.

‘However it still causes problems for me, I still get head pains and tingling in the face.

‘It isn’t just the accent, it is so hard for me.’

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