Sound Therapy
Albert Tomatis - Listening & Learning - Theories - Research - Sound Therapy
Listening and Learning
The bridge to learning came when Tomatis asked himself if it made any difference what ear one predominantly listened with. Through experimentation, he found that people who are right ear dominant learn much more easily. Because of his strong background in neurology, Tomatis readily understood why. The right ear is connected to the left-brain, the place where language is processed. That is a fast and accurate connection. The left ear, however, is connected to the right brain, where language cannot be processed. It has to jump via the corpus callosum to the left-brain. This is not only a slower connection, but it is also a less reliable connection. In the process, some of the higher frequencies get lost which are key to interpreting language. For example, a “b” and a “p” only differ in the higher harmonics and someone who is left ear dominant has to guess from the context what was said. That introduces errors and delays.
If listening is key to learning, perceiving all the frequencies of the auditory spectrum is equally important. Based upon thousands of tests, Tomatis came to the conclusion that people with an “ideal listening curve” (obtaining important high frequencies) learn more easily than those who have a distorted curve (a lack of high frequencies).
Tomatis also observed that by changing the dominant ear from left to right created the ideal listening curve. He also observed that not only did people learn better, they also gained more energy. He believed that this happened because high frequencies transmit more auditory information to the brain, thereby stimulating it more. When we hear high pitch sounds, the brain becomes stimulated, resulting in more energy.
Tomatis also discovered that motor skills improved because the vestibule (the part of the ear that regulates all of our movements) was being stimulated.
Listening with your body
Tomatis knew that we listen not only with our ears, but also with our bodies. Our bones are particularly good sound conductors. You can test this yourself, by putting a tuning fork on the top of your skull. You can hear the sound as if it came through your ears. If good listening is a prerequisite for good learning, he reasoned, “I better study both modes of listening: with the ears and with the bones.”
Identifying Auditory-related Problems Take a look at our Listening Checklist.
