Auditory Therapy

What Is Auditory Therapy?

There are a few different types of auditory therapy that can retrain the brain to help normalize hearing, senses and brain processing. These approaches can help improve:

  • Cognitive skills
  • Academic skills
  • Social skills
  • Communication skills
  • Eye contact
  • Auditory comprehension
  • Articulation
  • Creativity
  • New neural pathways

Most notably, there is a reduction in:

  • Sound sensitivities
  • Aggressive behaviors
  • Hyperactivity
  • Echolalia
  • Distractibility
  • Meltdowns

The following is a list of symptoms, conditions and disorders that have benefited from auditory therapy:

Auditory Integration Therapy

Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT) is a type of auditory therapy that was developed by Dr. Guy Berard in France. Initially Dr. Berard worked with Dr. Alfred Tomatis, but eventually went back to school and became an ear, nose and throat specialist so that he could develop his own device and protocol. Dr. Berard reduced the time required by Dr.Tomatis’ method and implemented some different protocol changes.

AIT, also known as the Berard method, is done for two half hours per day over a period of 10 consecutive days of listening to music with specific headphones. The music used with the Berard method is usually lively and often times current music of the day. His work emphasized auditory stimulus which impacted behavior and language.

Sound Stimulation Therapy / Tomatis Method

Sound Stimulation Therapy is a type of auditory therapy based on the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis of France who was an ear, nose and throat specialist. Dr. Tomatis’ method, typically known as just the Tomatis method, consisted of “listening training”. He developed a theory regarding the development of hearing in utero and the impact of auditory stimulus on every aspect of a child’s development including movement processing.

The Tomatis method uses Mozart music, Gregorian Chants and the mother’s voice. Listening requires two hours per day and 30 hours over a ten week period with specific headphones. Younger children listen to music while in movement on sensory integration equipment, while older children read while listening to music to help improve reading comprehension and language. Sound Stimulation Therapy is based on the major concepts of Dr. Tomatis and geared toward the impact of listening on learning, academics and vocal expression.

Many listening therapies are available, and almost universally they claim that they are derived or based on the theories of the French physician, ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Alfred Tomatis. The Tomatis Method is based on a developmental model of how we all learned to listen – a process that started in the womb. 

Theoretical Bases

Tomatis believed that the ear is much more than an organ of hearing.  It energizes and regulates alertness and attention, coordinates posture and movement and connects intentions and thoughts. Furthermore, he discovered that good listeners tune into the high frequency sounds that carry consonants and the meaning of language, while inhibiting the low frequency sounds which interfere with this perception.  He invented several devices designed to rehabilitate those with dysfunction in these areas.

The Electronic Ear

One of Tomatis’ inventions is the electronic ear (EE).  The EE has three features which are crucial in helping non-verbal children find a voice. Each one is regulated by a separate dial, which allows the Tomatis practitioner to create a wide range of separate settings for individual clients depending upon their specific needs.

Gates

A gating mechanism on the EE, activated by the intensity and high-frequency content of both music and voice, trains the ear to make fine discriminations of sound in the desired high-frequency range. After the ear perceives and restores the missing frequencies, the voice is then able to produce them.

Channels

Changing the channels setting on the EE allows the practitioner to adjust the tension between the two muscles in the listener’s middle ear, in accordance with the profile determined by a listening test. The listener is then able to physically focus attention and increase the perception of meaningful sounds.

Delays

The practitioner manipulates the time delay between air conduction (which carries sound from the outer ear to the middle ear) and bone conduction (which carries from the middle ear to the inner ear). The bone conduction is heard through earphones first but for an elongated amount of time, so that the listener becomes acclimated to the sound before having to analyze it. Channels and delays are integrated with the gates and work in conjunction with each other. Here are some other features of the Electronic Ear.

Filters

A very important feature on the Electronic Ear is the ability to progressively filter out sound frequencies below 9,000 hertz. The EE is able to re-create pre-natal and early listening by progressively filtering out the lower frequencies on both musical and speech recordings.

Balance

The EE, through a mechanism called the balance, helps us to progressively strengthen the right ear in its role of audio-vocal dominance. Tomatis discovered that the right ear has faster neuron pathways to the left hemisphere, which ideally, should have a controlling role in language and motor expression. Experimentation and observation will readily show that when the right ear is not dominant, expression (and even thinking!) becomes muddled and unfocused.

Microphone

The microphone, along with the gate, is the most important feature of the electronic ear. The microphone completes the loop in the auditory-vocal re-education process; it is the glue for permanent change. In a typical microphone session, the client hears his own voice through the EE, which is modified through the gate, channels, delays, filters and balance, so as to accentuate the high frequencies. 

With this high-frequency feedback, the client is able to incorporate these frequencies into his voice, which in turn enables the EE to gate better. This becomes the loop of better perception enabling better vocal production, which in turn enables even better perception.

Training and Programming

The aim of programming is to provide re-education of the ear by re-enacting the development of listening from the fetal stage (high frequencies) to birth and then through the development of language. Tomatis therapy modifies the many functions of the ear. The EE is the instrument. The programmer is the virtuoso. Designing programs and adjusting them is the critical human “know how” of the Tomatis Method, which requires lengthy training of the Tomatis Practitioner.

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Sources & References
Resources

Brownstone, A., et al. CASE STUDY: The Use of iLs with Cochlear Implants. Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf, Redwood City, CA, January 26, 2014.

Calhoon, J.A., et al. Early Intervention: a longitudinal study of reading and reading-related achievement of 64 students in kindergarten through second grade enrolled in the alpha program. College of Education, University of New Mexico, September 3, 2009.