A Tasmanian woman who sustained a head injury that left her speaking with what sounds like a French accent says the rare condition has left her feeling anxious and depressed.

Eight years ago Leanne Rowe woke up in Melbourne's Austin Hospital with a broken back and jaw after being involved in a serious car accident.

"Slowly, as my jaw started to heal, they said that I was slurring my words because I was on very powerful tablets," she told the ABC.

The slurring turned into what sounded like a French accent, which she has spoken with ever since.

Family doctor Robert Newton believes Ms Rowe has the extremely rare Foreign Accent Syndrome.

Ms Rowe says she is slowly coming to terms with what will more than likely be a life-long condition.

She hopes that will help her overcome the anxiety and depression that have developed along with the accent.

Key points Eight years ago Leanne Rowe sustained a broken back and jaw after being involved in a serious car accident

Eight years ago Leanne Rowe sustained a broken back and jaw after being involved in a serious car accident When she began speaking her accent had changed and sounded similar to that of a French person

When she began speaking her accent had changed and sounded similar to that of a French person In the past 70 years there have been 62 cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome recorded worldwide, including two Australians

In the past 70 years there have been 62 cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome recorded worldwide, including two Australians Ms Rowe says she has developed anxiety and depression since the accident and her daughter speaks for her in public

Ms Rowe says she has developed anxiety and depression since the accident and her daughter speaks for her in public University of Sydney's Karen Croot she says the syndrome develops when tissue in the speech area of the brain is damaged

A bus driver and keen member of the Army Reserves before the car crash, Ms Rowe now describes herself as a recluse.

"It makes me so angry because I am Australian," she said.

"I am not French, [though] I do not have anything against the French people."

Ms Rowe's daughter, Kate Mundy, says she was so relieved her mother survived the accident, at first she did not pay much attention to the change in her accent.

But Ms Mundy says the syndrome has had a profound impact and she now does most of the talking for her mother in public.

"I guess we made a bit of fun of it as well, but in hindsight, it's been really hard for her," she said.

"It has affected her life greatly. People see the funny side of it, and think its really interesting, I mean, it is interesting but I've seen the impacts on mum's life."

Experts baffled by the rare condition

Dr Newton says in the last 70 years there have been 62 cases recorded worldwide.

He says Ms Rowe is one of two Australians with the syndrome.

"She had a normal, if you like, Australian accent for the whole time I knew her before that," he said.

"She'd done French at school but she'd never been to France, didn't have any French friends at all.

"She turned up after having a nasty head injury eight years ago speaking with a French accent I couldn't believe my ears."

The University of Sydney's Karen Croot is one of the few to have researched Foreign Accent Syndrome.

She says it occurs when tissue in the speech area of the brain is damaged.

She says it is not actually a French accent, it just sounds like it to the listener.

"It's just an accident of chance that happens to that person that what happens to their speech happens to overlap with the features of a known accent," she says.