'Dilbert' creator Adams gets voice back

DUBLIN, Calif., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Scott Adams, the creator of the popular U.S. cartoon strip, Dilbert, says he has cured himself of a neurological condition that made him unable to speak.

Adams, 49, was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a condition where signals from the brain overwhelm the muscles that allows one to speak.

Initially thinking he had a bad case of laryngitis, he was forced to use hand gestures and whispers to communicate with friends, the San Francisco Chronicle said Saturday.

The condition is usually "incurable," but Adams decided to read a nursery rhyme out loud -- and it worked, he said. The rhyme, which he will probably always remember, was "Jack Be Nimble."

Within a few hours, he found that his voice had miraculously returned, stunning his treating physicians who now doubt he had the condition in the first place.

Spasmodic dysphonia is thought to afflict as many as 30,000 people in the United States. The cause is not known; however it is considered a "movement" disorder, similar to Parkinson's disease.