In the city of San Luis Obispo, slurred speech and other speech issues can result from a traumatic brain injury. One day, a victim may find that they are unable to speak at all, and the next they may speak with slurred speech.

Aphasia affects a person’s ability to express themselves and understand the expression of others. It is typically caused by damage to the left side of the brain. Hearing loss as a result from a traumatic brain injury may make aphasia worse. It is not unusual for the symptoms of a brain injury to be inconsistent. That is, they may change from day to day as a person recovers.

Aphasia is not the only speech disorder that is associated with a traumatic brain injury. Other speech issues that may occur after a traumatic brain injury include:

Dysarthria: this occurs when the nerves controlling the muscles that are responsible for making sound and speech are damaged. The disorder results in an inability to speak clearly or control one’s speech. When occurring by itself, dysarthria affects a person’s ability to form speech, but not their ability to understand spoken language.

Dyspraxia: when people have dyspraxia of speech, they may not be able to say what they are thinking. People may be able to respond spontaneously, but not be able to respond if they have to think about an answer to a question or hold a conversation. This can be a mild condition or a very severe one.