I first read about Adams' problem a few years ago. It was an enlightening to find because I had (and continue) to have a similar kind of issue, not with speech but with handwriting.
For the last few years I've been unable to write out the letters M, W, and 8. I absolutely can not make my hand move to draw the letters. Every other letter/character is no problem. My brain knows how the movement should go, but it's as if there is no connection between the part of the brain that can visualize the action and the part that puts it in motion. When it first started happening, I was really embarrassed. My first name is Matthew and it's really hard to sign your name on a check or credit card receipt when you can't make your hand draw an M or W.
I eventually found that I could write an 8 by drawing two circles rather than as one continuous line. Likewise I can now write my Ms and Ws in reverse starting at the end of the letter.
I'm not really sure how to describe the feeling. It's as if your brain has been on autopilot for so long that you don't actually know the muscle movements that make up writing an M.
I've also found stories of seasoned athletes who, all of a sudden, were unable to perform a common task in their sport. Such as a golfer who had to try for 15 seconds before he could start his backswing. Or the competitive swimmer who couldn't dive off the platform without several false starts.
I know these examples aren't scientific studies, but they fall in the same vein as Adams' vocal problems. It's amazing the things that brain can do (or won't do in this case).
That is a really intriguing problem. It looks like you never got a diagnosis for it, but weren't you worried when it first appeared that it might be a sign of something serious?
The analogy to sports actually reminds me a great deal of embouchure dystonia, which afflicts musicians that play winds (both brass and wood). Nobody really knows what the root cause is, but many players simply stop playing when it hits in full force. Looking at the wikipedia page linked in the article (for Focal Dystonia), it looks like it probably is the same thing in all of these cases, just varying degrees of severity.
If you read his personal blog, there's a lot more detail.
There's also seemingly unrelated detail, how he's paralyzed from anxiety by something as simple as having to ask another person if they are in line.
Also seemingly unrelated he can watch the worst, most tragic news and not be affected by it, yet a sad movie movie, even a sad kids movie, will mess him up big time.
And then there's the curious nature of his condition where the voice still works if he's singing, or rhyming, or doing public speaking.
So I'm not saying his problem is all in his head... but I am thinking there's more to it then surgery can touch.
Interestingly enough many of the curiosities above also affect stutterers. I wonder if a device such as the SpeechEasy which replicates the choral effect would have any impact on his condition, it does for stuttering.
You use different nerves for different types of speech. It's possible that it's entirely physiological. Certain triggers cause a particular nerve spasm, and this disables his voice for a bit. Apparently, whatever the triggers are, don't involve the seldom used parts of his voice box: vocal performance, apparently.
EDIT:
If this were a hand, everyone would assume the problem was physiological, not psychological. If someone's hand hurts doing particular things and not other things, then you go to an orthopedic surgeon, not a psychologist.
Well, the vocal system is one the most mechanically complicated parts of the anatomy.
One problem I see with such discussion is the lack of distinction between 'there is a cause for pain in the hand' and 'the brain senses pain in the hand'.
One can see this nicely if you simply think of pain as light, the pain sensors as light sensors and the brain as a microprocessor, connected to the sensors. Certainly, if light is there, then the sensors will sense light, and thus, the two statements are equal in this case.
However, if the sensor only senses light, one strictly does not know if there is light or not, as the sensor might malfunction.
If one realizes this distinction between the existance of a state and the recognition of a state, things grow much clearer and one does realize that whatever is going on, one must consider a malfunction of the brain and nerves.
Very very good point. Even though science now knows differently people Still tend to think that problems in the mind are...ephemeral and they exist outside the physical.
This can be very frustrating to anyone who faces a neurological condition.
Indeed, I found it highly fascinating when it was published that introverts and extroverts differ in some path-finding on ones brain.
It just baffles me: some neurons are routed a bit different, and you turn from a geek who is happy to work on some complicated problem into a party going person who is depressed once there are less than 5 people around him (and vice versa)
I had a bout of stuttering in early childhood, which therapy seemed to have cured. It came back when I was twenty years old, standing in line to buy movie tickets.
I can't recall which movie, but it had a single word in the title. As the long line moved forward, I kept going over the movie title in my mind - the single word I would have to speak once I get to the ticket booth. Something happened in that moment, and I've been stuttering for the 13 years since. I guess you could say that movie changed my life.
The constant portrayal of stutterers as half-wits in popular media doesn't help one bit.
I am just thankful that I didn't suffer this affliction while in high school.
I've done a lot of reading on medical stuff and I've run into some folks who know the most amazing things. Like when I began stuttering last year, I was able to ask around for what supplements would help and get a list of suggestions. I had never had a stutter before and I knew there had to be a cause, it didn't "just happen". The supplements cleared it up. When I start reversing too many letters again when I type, it's a clue that I need to up my supplements (or restart ones I've stopped taking).
I've heard lots of similar stories, but you they don't usually get told in "normal" circles to avoid being booed down as "nutty". :-)
I remember reading the stories about how his rhyming was able to circumvent his issues, and was very interesting to read this follow up.
I think it speaks to his nature that not only did he reject any opinion which went against his desired outcome, but also that he continued to be a father, business owner, cartoonist and so much more given his issues.
not only did he reject any opinion which went against his desired outcome
The issue here is: if the surgery had not been successful---or if he lacked the resources to pursue this so thoroughly and still be productive and successful---we might very well be looking at that same trait as a lamentable irrationality and out-of-touchnesss. We might even look at it as the least hackerlike of traits. Right now we can view it as an admirably entrepreneurial spirit.
To be fair, he rejected only the opinion that there was no cure. It looks to me like he did lots of research and explored his options with an open mind.
For the last few years I've been unable to write out the letters M, W, and 8. I absolutely can not make my hand move to draw the letters. Every other letter/character is no problem. My brain knows how the movement should go, but it's as if there is no connection between the part of the brain that can visualize the action and the part that puts it in motion. When it first started happening, I was really embarrassed. My first name is Matthew and it's really hard to sign your name on a check or credit card receipt when you can't make your hand draw an M or W.
I eventually found that I could write an 8 by drawing two circles rather than as one continuous line. Likewise I can now write my Ms and Ws in reverse starting at the end of the letter.
I'm not really sure how to describe the feeling. It's as if your brain has been on autopilot for so long that you don't actually know the muscle movements that make up writing an M.
I've also found stories of seasoned athletes who, all of a sudden, were unable to perform a common task in their sport. Such as a golfer who had to try for 15 seconds before he could start his backswing. Or the competitive swimmer who couldn't dive off the platform without several false starts.
I know these examples aren't scientific studies, but they fall in the same vein as Adams' vocal problems. It's amazing the things that brain can do (or won't do in this case).