LISTENING Therapy

More about Listening Therapy

Sound perception starts to develop in utero from 24 to 28 weeks gestation as the auditory fibres myelinate. The unborn child can hear his mother’s voice through bone conduction by putting his body against the spinal column and also responds to some external stimuli. As the pregnancy progresses the range of frequencies available to the foetus expands. Shortly after birth the normal range of hearing is about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. As the child develops, this narrows somewhat and zooms into the frequencies of the mother tongue.

Throughout childhood, frequent ear nose and throat infections can negatively impact hearing which can be compromised not only during a period of acute infection but for approximately 6 weeks afterwards. This is particularly relevant during the first three years of life when the child is learning to differentiate the specific sounds of speech and can have a long-term detrimental effect on a child’s auditory discrimination and processing skills, (negatively impacting reading and spelling later). Prematurity, genetics, jaundice, very high fever as a young child, traumatic birth and inadequate auditory exposure can also be contributing factors to auditory processing difficulties.

There are quite a range of listening therapies available that make use of the plasticity of the brain to create strong auditory pathways to improve auditory skills. The Motorway Kids offers the Tomatis® Method and Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation (JIAS).

The TOMATIS® Method

Improves Motor, Emotional and Cognitive abilities, through Music and Language

The French ENT specialist and researcher, Dr Alfred Tomatis, who developed the TOMATIS® auditory stimulation method identified that different frequencies have different effects on the physiology of the body/mind. He considered that the ear should always be regarded as an auditory and motor organ. He mapped out 3 distinct zones :

Zone 1 : The lower frequencies tend to influence motor skills such as posture, balance and coordination, rhythm and emotional regulation.
Zone 2: This is the communication zone and the frequencies influence language, phonemic awareness, verbal working memory, (musical analysis) and communication skills.
Zone 3: Has high impact on cortical arousal, attention processes, creativity and fine tunes the discrimination processes of zone 2.

Tomatis discovered that high frequency sounds have a nourishing and energizing effect on alertness and higher cognitive function. The ear is in fact the most powerful sensory integrator of the human brain with approximately 80% of energy used by the brain coming from the ear.

Tomatis made a clear distinction between hearing and listening. Hearing is passive and is simply the ability of the ear to hear incoming sounds at a normal threshold.

Listening, however is an active process involving the ability to tune out distracting and irrelevant sounds and requires motivation, desire and the intention to take in, process and respond to the information.

The TOMATIS® listening process gives the tiny hidden muscles of the inner ear, which may have become rather flaccid following recurrent ear infections, a real workout, which Tomatis referred to us to as ‘stapedial gymnastics!’

A good listening ear is capable of dampening the lower frequencies of background sounds and at the same time is sensitive to higher frequencies associated with language.

The TOMATIS® method possesses a unique gating system which is the “soul” of the method. This gating system uses unpredictable sound contrasts transmitted through both air and bone conduction to surprise the brain and strengthen its attention mechanisms, improving perception and the quality of listening.

TOMATIS® listening therapy always stimulates both the vestibular system and the cochlea. With the connections between the auditory system and other nerves in the brain stem, including the visual nerves and the vagus nerve, the method has a very wide range of application.

Improvements frequently reported following Tomatis® retraining are :

Better sleep.
Reduced stress and anxiety
Better attention and working memory
Improved communication and socialization
Improved language, speech, reading and writing
Enhanced gross and fine motor skills

Disclaimer

The Motorway Kids is duly licensed by TOMATIS DEVELOPMENT S.A. which is the owner of TOMATIS, TOMATIS LOGO, MAESTRO, INFINITE, TALKSUP, SOLISTEN, Trademarks www.tomatis.com
The TOMATIS® Method is an Educational Program, and is considered neither a medical treatment nor a means to establish a medical diagnosis. The content of this website is for informational purposes only. It should be neither considered as nor substitute for medical advice.

Access to the Tomatis® Method at the Motorway Kids

You will be sent a very detailed online questionnaire to give rating responses for:

Attention
Sleep
Eating / oral motor
Touch system
Vestibular functioning
Auditory
Visual
Attachment / emotional behaviors

Where it is possible, a listening test will be carried out to determine the client’s listening profile through air and bone conduction. Tests of pitch discrimination, sensitivity and binaural threshold through air conduction may also be carried out.

Analysis of the responses will enable optimal programming for the individual with more emphasis on zones 1, 2 or 3 as required. The listening is done in the comfort of your own home with a special set of headphones which allow for listening through air and bone conduction from the portable Talks Up device. Each ‘Intensive’ involves 40 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes of listening per day for 14 days and generally on average 3 intensives are required with 4 to 6 weeks between the first and second intensive and 2 -3 months between the second and third. Progress towards established goals is discussed between intensives.

Between intensives, it is essential to consolidate the improvements with a Forbrain or Infinity headset, which continues to train attention, speech and memory with the incorporation of a dynamic filter and use of bone conduction.

Alternatively, the listening may be done using the latest generation Maestro headset. This is bought by the client and can be used by 2 members of the family. With this device, the listening time varies, up to 1 hour per day during the intensive. The same headset is used for the consolidation programmes which may involve purely further listening or listening combined with audio-vocal work.

The Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation (JIAS) Method

Johansen Individualized Auditory Stimulation is a very gentle, research-based form of auditory stimulation. It was devised by Kjeld Johansen at the Dyslexia Research lab in Denmark. It provides the brain with a ‘second chance’ to receive adequate, consistent and specific stimuli and uses the principle of brain plasticity to ‘remould’ auditory processing pathways into and within the brain, leading to better perception and processing of sounds.
In order to be able to distinguish the sounds of the English language, a child has to have sensitivity to the spectrum of frequencies from 125 to 8000 Hz. The energy of vowels and the majority of constants lies in the lower to middle frequency range while unvoiced consonants, such as f, s, t lie in the higher frequency range. If there is a high frequency hearing deficit, sounds such as f/th maybe hard to distinguish, and these are sounds, which frequently cause confusion for children with dyslexia.

Sh/ch lie within a very close frequency range, and may also be difficult for some children to discriminate. Similarly, b/d and m/n/ng are close together in terms of frequency can be very confusing for some children.

Ear dominance is also an important factor. Most people have their main language centre in the left hemisphere of the brain and so sounds processed through the right ear pass directly via the more efficient route to the auditory cortex in the left hemisphere, whereas sounds from the left ear travel to the sublanguage centre in the right hemisphere, and then have to pass through the corpus callosum to the left hemisphere for decoding, creating milliseconds of delay. This delay may make it difficult for a child to take in and make sense of the information he receives. Equally, mixed or inconsistent auditory laterality may result in a scrambling of sounds, giving rise to inconsistencies in spelling with letter, symbol and word reversals.

Speech sounds are fast and the brain needs to be able to process sound quickly in order to perceive all the sounds. b/d confusion is often considered to be a problem with directionality or orientation, but in fact, there can be an auditory component to this confusion with the difference between the onset of a b and d being just 40 ms. A child with good auditory processing speed will hear all the sounds in the word eg ‘stop’, whereas a child, with poor auditory processing speed, may not hear all of the sounds and may perceive ‘sop’.
JIAS gives flexibility in the amount of stimulation given to different frequencies, and the stimulation can be weighted to encourage right ear preference.
This method is primarily used for individuals with difficulties in listening, concentration, reading, and language development, such as those with dyslexia, auditory processing difficulties and ADHD.

Johansen listening therapy at the Motorway Kids

The child’s case history is discussed with a parent and checklists and observations completed by both parents and school.

A comprehensive pure tone audiogram will test not just the overall volume that your child hears, but a range of decibel levels across the spectrum of different frequencies from 250 to 8000 Hz. The audiogram will reveal any problem areas for your child. A dichotic listening test is also administered to help establish the dominant ear.

Further auditory tests using the TAVS (Test of Auditory and Visual Skills) may be administered to give results for temporal order, fusion threshold, steady beat perception, pitch discrimination, and duration pattern. These tests measure performance on areas linked to reading ability, speech and phonological awareness.

Following analysis of the results, your child will be given a programme of customized frequency specific music, which may be weighted to encourage right ear listening. Your child will be required to dedicate 10 to 15 minutes to active listening per day. The music is pleasant and easy to listen to, making it accessible to individuals of all ages.

A review is carried out every 6 to 8 weeks, checking on functional changes and shifts in listening from previous tests. A typical programme takes about 8 to 10 months, but depends on the presenting issues and the age of the child.

As your child’s listening improves, you may start to notice some of the following:

Improved ability to focus on and understand spoken language, particularly in noisy environments.
Improved reading and academic performance
Better speech clarity and articulation, which is particularly beneficial for children with speech delays or disorders.
Increased confidence and reduced stress.

CONTACT

Have any questions? I am always open to talk about your children and how I can help you.