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Aphasia is a brain disorder where a person has trouble speaking or understanding other people speaking. This happens with damage or disruptions in parts of the brain that control spoken language. It often happens with conditions like stroke. Aphasia is often treatable, and speech therapy can still help people who have this condition permanently.
Aphasia is a disorder where you have problems speaking or understanding what other people say. It usually happens because of damage to part of your brain but can also happen with conditions that disrupt how your brain works. There are also multiple types of aphasia. The location of the damage in your brain determines the type of aphasia you have.
This condition is almost always a symptom of another problem, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury. It can also happen as a temporary effect of conditions like migraines. Aphasia is often treatable, especially when the underlying condition is treatable or can heal on its own.
What is the difference between aphasia vs. dysarthria, dysphasia or apraxia?
Aphasia is a condition that has a connection or an overlap with several other speech-related disorders and problems, such as dysarthria, dysphasia and apraxia.
- Aphasia: This is the overall term for a brain-connected problem with language abilities, including speaking or understanding other people speaking. Experts use this term for full or partial loss of language abilities.
- Dysphasia (dis-fay-zh-ah): This is an outdated term for partial loss of language abilities from a brain-related problem. Use of this term isn't common in most places. A major part of why it fell out of use is the risk of confusion with the term “dysphagia” (see below).
- Dysphagia (dis-fay-gee-uh): This is the medical term for a problem with swallowing. The ability to swallow relies on specific muscles to push food, liquid, medication, etc. down your throat. Dysphagia can happen with brain or nerve disorders or problems with the muscles themselves.
- Dysarthria: This is when you have trouble speaking because you can’t fully control parts of your mouth, face and upper respiratory system. This can make you speak too loudly or softly, at uneven speeds, mispronounce words, or have unusual changes in pitch (changing between high- or deep-sounding voices).
- Apraxia: This is a problem where you can’t do something even though you have learned how to do it or have done it before. An example would be suddenly not knowing how to use a key to open a locked door, even though you have no problem describing the action and still know how a lock and key work. People with apraxia often have trouble saying words correctly.
Who does it affect?
Aphasia can affect anyone who has damage to the areas of the brain that control your ability to speak or understand other people speaking. It’s more common in middle-aged and older adults — especially because of conditions like stroke — but it can also happen at any age.
How common is this condition?
Aphasia is uncommon, with about 2 million people in the United States having this condition and about 180,000 more developing it each year. It does happen very commonly with certain conditions. An example of this is stroke, where nearly one-third of people with that condition also have some form of aphasia.
How does this condition affect my body?
Because this affects your ability to communicate, people with this condition often feel it's hard for others to understand them. This can cause a range of problems. Some are just minor annoyances, like not being able to ask for a glass of water. Others could become life-threatening misunderstandings, like not being able to tell someone that you’re having symptoms of a stroke.