The healing properties of music have been known since ancient times. The power of music to sooth and to lift the human spirit was celebrated for centuries before such fields as psychology or physics began to explain the phenomena. The healing power of sound for learning disabilities and other challenges, however, is a relatively new discovery based on the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis. Through extensive research over several decades, he discovered a very effective method of auditory re-education that helps improve memory, focus, attention span, and the ability to learn.

Dr. Tomatis was a French ear, nose and throat physician, who began his work in the 1940's. His curiosity and genius led him to many discoveries about the importance of the ear and of the distinction between hearing and listening. He showed us that our auditory nerve is fundamental to human neurology, and that it helps to regulate all the senses. It is a vital nutrient to stimulate the brain. His discoveries helped us understand how difficulties in listening are the underlying cause of many learning problems. His work also demonstrated how music-based auditory re-education could improve a variety of learning disabilities including Dyslexia, auditory processing problems, attention difficulties, and Autism.

In the crucial developmental phases of language, many children suffer from ear infections and allergies which affect the health of the ear. We need the highest degree of auditory functioning to: discriminate between similar sounds; attend to sounds we want to hear and tune out ones we do not; integrate sensory information from muscle movement and establish good balance; and stimulate the brain with sensory input.

Auditory re-education programs using Dr. Tomatis' guidelines begin with a Listening Test that measures air, bone, and spatial perception of sound. Using results of the Listening Test as a map, an individual program is created to re-educate the brain, strengthen neural pathways, and improve cognitive sequencing.

A Tomatis based program is usually 30 days, spread out over a span of 4-6 months, and includes both passive and active segments. In the passive phase, the client listens to the music of Mozart and Gregorian Chant through special headsets, with equipment that filters and gates the music. The music exercises and tones the muscles of the middle ear, and bone conduction helps balance the amount of sound we take in through our bones.

One of Dr. Tomatis' discoveries was that our voice can only produce sounds that our ears can hear. Therefore after the ears have improved their capacity to receive a full spectrum of sound, the active part of the program includes work with the voice.

In the course of this work we also create right ear dominance. Because our brain's speech and language center is located in the left brain, right ear dominance creates a direct path to this center. For those who process information through the left ear, the route to the speech and language area is much longer. In the process, some of the higher frequencies get lost – and many of these frequencies are key to interpreting language.

In 1999, Tim Gilmore, of the Tomatis Center in Toronto, published a meta analysis in the International Journal of Listening incorporating five separate studies involving 231 children. Using this statistical analysis he was able to show significant improvement using the Tomatis Method to improve linguistic skills, psychomotor skills, personal and social adjustment skills, cognitive skills, and auditory skills Case studies abound that offer testimony to the efficacy of this method to improve communication, attention, and memory. Research is also currently being generated which shows positive change in sensory integration and communication for children and adults on the Autistic Spectrum.

Auditory re-education can help adults and children overcome attention and learning difficulties by improving the way the brain receives, processes, stores and retrieves information. Music is our path to stimulate listening. Listening is the key to learning.

PUBLISHED SUMMER 2003 EAST BAY LEARNING DISABILITIES ASSN NEWSLETTER