ABC7Chicago.com

Speak again after stroke through song

March 28, 2007 - According to the American Heart Association, about 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year. That means, every 45 seconds, someone has a stroke in this country. More than 60 percent of strokes occur in females and nearly 30 percent of all stroke victims are under age 65. If a person survives a stroke, they are often left with any number of physical challenges as a result. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Today, about 5.5 million stroke survivors are living in the United States.

APHASIA: According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Aphasia can impair the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. About one in five stroke survivors have difficulty with language.