Tomatis® Listening Program (auditory stimulation)
Someone may hear well but listen poorly
Hearing is an involuntary ability of the ear whilst listening is an active, voluntary skill of the brain to understand the meaning of sounds through the ear. However, barriers ranging from background noise to deep-seated learning and auditory processing difficulties associated with emotional overload become challenges for you or your child.
Established on neuroplasticity by stimulating the brain
Some people cannot “process” information even when they are hearing it; hence, they have difficulties in listening. So, the Tomatis® Method helps in rewiring these processing connections in the brain via the ear for better learning, communication, and emotional balance. The way it does it is by creating unpredictable musical contrasts which surprise the brain and trigger the attentional mechanisms.
How Does The Tomatis® Method Work?
Listening therapy with the Tomatis® Effect - 3D (TRANSCRIPT)
The Tomatis® Method is a pedagogical method used to improve the listening of a person whose hearing functions correctly. It works thanks to a device that causes musical contrasts by suddenly and unpredictably changing the timbre and intensity of the music. This effect will surprise the brain and trigger its attentional mechanisms. We say that the brain puts itself into a listening position.
Sound is transmitted through air via the ear canal. It is also transmitted by vibration at the top of the headset. This vibration is called bone conduction. Bone conduction transmits the sound directly to the inner ear; thus, preparing it to receive the sound transmitted through the ear drum.
The switch to Channel 2 causes the muscles of the ear to tense. Conversely, the switch back to Channel 1 lets these muscles to relax. Thus, the muscles of the ear are subjected to a gymnastic exercise.
In this way, the stirrup muscle tenses and relaxes thanks to the Tomatis effect improving the regulation of the inner ear and playing a role of preparation. More generally, it is the entire auditory system that is stimulated by a sudden change of timbre and intensity.
The vestibule and the cochlea have a fundamental role of providing energy to the brain. In the cochlea, high frequency sounds stimulate the brain much more than low frequency sounds. Channel 2 will strongly activate the lower part of this cochlear duct and thus, favour the reception of high frequencies and their transmission to the brain.
This transmission takes place through the transformation of the acoustic vibration that is perceived into electrical stimulation. The electrical message is transmitted to the auditory cortex and the peripheral cortical areas that are directly connected to the pre-frontal cortex. The latter integrates and analyses the information received.
In return, this integrated information is directed back to the ear favoring not only the perception of the acoustic information and the ability to focus on it but also the improvement of motor programs concerning fine and gross motor functions.
Thus, through this back-and-forth between the brain and the receptors in the inner ear, we can see it in reality that the ear is a sensory-motor organ that plays a decisive role in our personal development. That is why the Tomatis® Method acts in a natural, non-intrusive manner on the auditory system and the brain. This leads to improvements in learning, attention, communication, reading, listening, [and] sensory processing.