
2. Inability to pronounce, not due to muscle paralysis or weakness
Another symptom that someone with aphasia may struggle with and is likely to experience is a partial or total inability to pronounce sounds and words correctly. This isn’t due to any kind of muscle weakness or paralysis but is caused by the impairment to the left side of the brain, which is the part of the brain responsible for dealing with language comprehension and output.
The fact that this new inability can come on all of a sudden can be pretty distressing, as a person may find themselves falling over a word or a sound that they would ordinarily be able to produce without even thinking. This can often give the person the look of someone who is confused and is actually something that a lot of people with dementia experience.
Dementia is one of the common causes of aphasia, and so this isn’t surprising. Speech therapists can try to improve or regain pronunciations, but aphasia can be quite a ruthless thief.