Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Even neurogenic stutterers can sing



Check out the performance of this ex-soldier who got brain damaged. He stutters but he can sing like all people who started stuttering at a young age. I do not actually know of a similar case in the literature. And it shows that speaking and singing is not the same neurological pathway. Would be interesting to see his brain scans? I am convinced his damage is in one of the loci that Catherine Theys showed us at the Antwerp.

6 comments:

lolocopter1231 said...

Is there a way to contact him for a scan?

drederick said...

Apparently there are claims that this guy made up his war story. It's unclear if he is faking his stuttering in that case. That would be interesting if a non-stutterer pretended to stutter in order to become famous and successful.

Tom Weidig said...

I have an even better explanation. He invented the Marine story in order to excuse his stuttering. So that it's not his fault that he stutters but the evil enemy who attacked him.

In any case, only an insane person would lie to such an extent as this lie would be uncovered sooner or later...

Jon said...

Every so often, an American politician is caught claiming military honors they do not deserve. Some have claimed the Congressional Medal of Honor - our highest military honor. Others claim medals for bravery when they didn't even serve.

Regarding the stuttering: the control of timing is in a different location than that of speech. Singing involves meter, which is not a part of speech outside spoken poetry.

Anonymous said...

Tom, it looks like he made up the story and he doesn't even stutter.

Anonymous said...

(Medical Xpress)—Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language.

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-theory-music-underlies-language-acquisition.html#jCp