PHOTO: Sirin Thada

N A CITY WITH SPEECH PATTERNS as distinct and diverse as its residents, the business of accent modification is left to professionals such as Ann Joan Hyman. She is a speech pathologist for the New York Speech Improvement Services, a company that helps actors, immigrants and people with speech impediments learn "standard American English."

Lofty as the term may sound, speech experts define it rather simply. "Standard American English is an accent that is not recognizable to a certain area," says Sam Chwat, director of the company. "You listen to what they're saying rather than how they they're saying it."

The daughter of an Italian mother, Hyman started out as a speech therapist simply because language and linguistics fascinated her. She spent three years as a speech therapist in New York City public schools. Because her work day was usually over by 3 p.m., Hyman started to see clients who had just suffered strokes or other ailments to help them regain their speech. In 1985, she applied for and accepted a full-time job at Chwat's company because she found the field of accent elimination exciting and challenging.

"I find this work a little bit more difficult in terms of dealing with clients," says Hyman, 41. "They'll question you more, but are very motivated people. The more you ask, the more you learn."

To lose an accent, a student must first break down the sounds he or she makes. Hyman's first step is to give students a list of words and have them repeat it over and over, paying close attention to the construction of sounds. The first sound is usually "th" and words include "thank," "thick" and "thimble." After repeated readings, Hyman asks students to speak with her informally to see if they can apply the dissection of language to everyday usage.

Her clients generally attend 10 one-hour sessions, Hyman says, but she requires them to practice both reading and speaking conversationally. Hyman says family members often respond to students' efforts with: "What are you trying to prove?" So she encourages her clients to practice their new "accent" with strangers, such as salesclerks, waiters and telephone operators.

TANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH comes at a premium cost. Depending on how many sessions and the density of the accent, students at New York Speech Improvement Services pay between $100 for one hour-long session and $1,000 for an entire accent-removal program.

Sam Chwat founded New York Speech Improvement Services in 1982. A photo of Julia Roberts, whom he once coached to lose her accent, hangs behind his desk. PHOTO: S. Mitra Kalita

Chwat breaks down his company's clientele as predominantly Americans trying to lose their accents. About 60 percent, he says, are divided between actors and just regular people trying to lose a regional accent or improve their speech. Hyman says many stock brokerages and other corporations send their employees to learn to speak slowly and precisely over the phone. The remaining 40 percent, Chwat says, are foreign-born students trying to acquire more "American-sounding" speech.

Chwat says the business has been accused of trying to "make everybody vanilla," but those accusations usually come from people without accents. "There is this knowledge among accented people that the accent holds them back," he says. "It's easier to change an accent than it is to change society."

Changing an accent is often just the beginning of a person's complete makeover, he says. "It really does not only change communication style, but completes a look and aesthetic they have chosen to be empowered."

Hyman says she discusses with her clients the reasons they want to change their accents. Most, she says, send her thank-you notes or follow-up phone calls detailing how losing the accent helped them get a certain part in a play or a promotion at work. If clients really feel like they are "selling out" by losing their accent, instructors can teach them to turn it off and on. Hyman cautions: "Once it becomes natural, though, people don't want to turn it off and on."

As for Chwat and Hyman's own accents? Chwat says he lost his Brooklyn accent years ago. Hyman says she lost her Pennsylvania accent, too. But her mother's Italian accent remains. "We used to tease her," she says. "But now, I don't work on it because it's lovely."