"Somebody who has survived a stroke, has extensive brain damage at maybe 35-years-old - they may live 40 years extremely impaired," said Julius Fridriksson, director of the Aphasia Laboratory at the University of South Carolina, who presented his research at the 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting. "If they had greater access to rehabilitation, their lives could be made significantly better."

Fridriksson studies patients with broken speech, known as non-fluent speakers, using iPods showing the mouth of a person speaking. The patient listens to the words the on-screen mouth is speaking and mimics the speech along with the iPod.