About Listening Therapy

What’s the difference between listening and hearing?

Hearing is the ear’s ability to detect sounds. Listening is the ability to make sense of the sounds we are hearing. Many people have trouble making sense of what they hear, even though their hearing is normal.

What is listening or auditory processing?

Auditory processing is the process by which we make sense of what we hear. It occurs in the brain and is made up of many different skills which are applied by the brain to the sounds perceived by the auditory system.

Some of these skills include:

Auditory figure ground- the ability to hear what a person is saying over a background of speech babble or other noise.

Auditory closure- the ability of the brain to fill in the missing sounds and make sense of speech when the speech is unclear or muffled.

Dichotic listening- the ability to hear and accurately process words spoken by different people at the same time

Auditory analysis- the ability to hear the sounds inside words such as in blend ( bl, end) which is needed for spelling correctly

Auditory memory- the ability to remember what you have just heard, follow a list of instructions, remember someone’s name or telephone number.

How do I know if my child is having auditory processing difficulties?

Does your child have normal hearing but :

• Often have difficulty listening and paying attention
• Frequently drift off into their own world and lose concentration
• Misunderstand spoken information or instructions
• Frequently ask “what?” when spoken to
• Need to have instructions repeated more frequently than others
• Have difficulty following more than one or two instructions at a time
• Get easily distracted by background noise
• Have trouble hearing similarities and differences in sounds
• Have poor phonic skills in reading and / or writing
• Have speech problems
• Appear to be overly sensitive to certain sounds or frequencies

If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions your child may have an auditory processing difficulty or disorder which is affecting his ability to understand spoken language.

How do you test for listening difficulties?

Our Listening Skills Assessment includes:

• SCAN C or A Test for Auditory Processing Disorders
• TAPS Auditory Processing Assessment Test which includes word and sound discrimination, phonological blending and segmentation, sequential memory for numbers, word and sentence memory, listening comprehension and auditory reasoning
• Tomatis Listening Test using a standard audiometer in normal listening conditions, including both air conduction and bone conduction thresholds.
• Rosner Test of Auditory Analysis Skills
• A Listening Checklist observational assessment is filled out by both parent and teacher. This gives us a picture of the child’s listening skills both at home and at school.
• Observation of the child’s listening skills during the assessment process
• Diagnostic academic testing in spelling, reading as required

If my child needs help what will happen next?

We recommend auditory retraining therapy (listening therapy) to treat children with auditory processing difficulties and disorders.

Listening Therapy Programmes - Background

The programmes we use are based on the pioneering work of Dr Alfred Tomatis - a French ear, nose and throat specialist. Dr Tomatis discovered that we cannot say sounds which we cannot hear. He also identified the important distinction between hearing and listening.

Dr Tomatis discovered that good listening is the key to effective learning and attention. Listening re-training can dramatically improve posture, attention, communication, memory, energy levels, achievement in literacy and numeracy and is very helpful for those with learning or emotional regulation difficulties, poor social skills or generalised immaturity.

Listening therapy programmes are used to treat auditory processing disorders and are also used for children with sensory integration difficulties, ADHD, Aspergers Syndrome and other related conditions. This therapy may be carried out at home using CD’s under the supervision of a fully certified provider or supervised at the Developmental Learning Centre clinic. The type of therapy recommended will depend on the results of the assessment and the age of your child.

What are these programmes designed to do?

• Train the brain in the auditory skills needed to effectively listen, learn and communicate.
• Retrain the auditory system so that it is easier to discriminate one sound or frequency from another.
• Sensitise the listener to frequencies which they may not be sensitive to due to damage to or immaturity of the auditory pathways. This damage can be caused by accident, head injury or ear infections in early childhood.
• Decrease the over sensitivity to certain sounds common in children and adults with sensory integration difficulties.
• Overall, enhance the child’s ability to make sense of the spoken language at school at home and with friends.

How do these listening programmes work?

Classical music and nature sounds are recorded and produced as extremely high quality, high definition recordings which are then modified to deliver auditory retraining therapy in the form of filtration, audio bursting, blending and spatial dynamics. Dr. Tomatis discovered that it was possible to retrain and improve the processing of sound by the brain stem and cortex using filtered music (i.e. music with certain frequency ranges removed or enhanced) and the sudden and random alteration to the pitch or tone of the music (‘gating’).

Listening Therapy Programmes Offered

We offer the Integrated Listening System internationally renowned listening therapy programmes.

At Home Programmes

The Integrated Listening Home System includes a 12 CD set, a Playbook with a 12 week integrated movement programme and an Integration Kit including balance board, beanbags and indoor balls. The CDs contain recordings of carefully selected and modified classical music. The iLs Home System is suitable for mild cases of auditory processing difficultly and people of all ages who wish to improve their concentration, cognitive skills, gross motor movement, balance and coordination. It has also been found to be helpful for improving mood, energy and motivation.

In Clinic Programme

Integrated Listening System Intensive is an accelerated in-clinic programme involving 80 minute sessions 5 days a week for a total of 30 days over a period of 11 weeks. This in clinic programme includes an integrated movement programme which is done during the first 20 minutes of each listening session. The iLs Intensive may be followed up with the iLs Home System for further consolidation if needed.

Why move while listening?

Movement stimulates the vestibular (balance system) which is closely connected to the auditory system. By moving we also activate the cerebellum, where our motor planning , movement patterns and coordination are established. By moving, balancing and listening at the same time we can maximize the integration of the listening therapy on the sensory areas of the brain, enabling rapid maturation of the pathways needs for communication, higher cognitive functioning and learning.

What is the cerebellum?

The cerebellum (lower back side of the brain, near the brain stem) can be likened to a powerful computer processor, transferring vast amounts of information to the movement, language, reasoning, sensory, and emotion parts of the brain; its role is so important that it contains more nerve cells than the rest of the brain combined.

iLs programs stimulate cerebella activity to strengthen neural connections and, in the process, improve our ability to make skills such as reading, writing, spelling, etc. automatic.

What is the vestibular system and why is it so important?

The vestibule, located in the inner ear, has 3 main functions:

• Balance As the primary organ of equilibrium, it plays a major role in the subjective sensation of motion and spatial orientation
• Posture Vestibular input to areas of the nervous system elicit adjustments of muscle activity and body posture
• Eye Movement Vestibular input to the nervous system helps stabilize the eyes during head movements

Given these 3 functions, one can see how important the vestibular system is to our sense of balance, our posture and muscle development, and the eye tracking ability required for learning.