The Role of the Ear
When the eardrum stretches with an incoming sound, the hammer bone receives the vibration,
transmits it to the anvil, and then to the stirrup, which sets the stimulation of the inner ear in motion
for the processing of sound.
Two tiny ear muscles attached to these bones have a large role to play in the middle ear as they act
like gate keepers for the ears. They let in sounds that are good and keep out sounds that are
harmful. If a sound is too soft, the tensor tympani muscle pulls on the hammer bones so that the
eardrum tightens raising the amplitude of the incoming sounds so they can be heard. The
stapedius muscle acts to move the stirrup bone so as to let the incoming sound through to the
inner ear for processing and out to the brain for responding.
The inner ear is responsible for two functions. The hearing function, also known as the auditory system, performed by the cochlea and the balance function performed by the semicircular canals, utricle and saccule, also referred to as the vestibular system. One goal of listening therapy is to tone up those middle ear muscles and make them stronger so they are better filters of sound.
IF YOUR CHILD HAS BEHAVIOR ISSUES, THEY HAVE A LISTENING PROBLEM!
Take a trip through the ear in the video above to learn how sound is converted into electrical impulses and ready to be interpreted by the brain.
Watch on YouTube Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeTriGTENoc
How is the Brain Impacted With Listening Therapy?
The goal of listening therapy is to change the way a person listens by allowing their ears to discriminate all the frequencies of sound. They become an antenna to receive sound and prime the nervous system enhancing the Vestibular (body) and Auditory (hearing) functions. Our modulated Mozart does this by opening up the ear and changing the listening capabilities of an individual. Because the high frequencies of Mozart music are energizing and impart a changing effect on the cortex of the brain, the therapeutic effect that one receives from listening therapy can only happen from the filtering of Mozart's music which keeps more of those high frequencies in the musical composition after the lower frequencies have been blocked. For years, researchers studied the effects of Mozart on students and their increased IQ scores. Mozart had shown increased spatial reasoning that was not seen when the research subject listened to silence or a score of another composer's music. Through the years the interest in Mozart to improve one's intellect grew and grew. Other classical compositions (like Beethoven and Bach) don't contain enough of the high frequencies to its pieces to render it therapeutic after a filtering process (pulling out the frequencies). These pieces are also too thick and emotional and can't ignite the brain and stimulate the vestibular and auditory functions like Mozart can - the ultimate goal of listening therapy.
The Ear-Brain Connection
Auditory processing disorder affects the way information is processed by the brain. When auditory processing is distorted or disrupted in some way, there can be adverse effects on the interpretation of auditory information, which diminishes the brain's ability to understand and organize the messages being received and sent. When your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you that are taken in by the ear and processed efficiently and effectively auditory, processing is unhampered. The vibrations are changed into electrical impulses and the information isn't altered, skewed or inhibited. Normal auditory processing results as the brain is able to take that information, interpret it, process it and respond to it in a meaningful way. However, if auditory processing is hindered in any way, due to a variety of reasons, there is a breakdown in the normal transformation and exchange of auditory information resulting in an Auditory Processing Disorder. For the population with Autism ADD/ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities, this can cause behavioral problems, social and emotional problems, academic problems and even shut-down mode. Little Be.a.r. Listening Therapy works gradually over time to put all the frequencies back into the listener's ability to hear them so they can discriminate between the fine nuances of sound (ie: "b" and "d" sound very similar), and they are better able to tune into foreground information and tune out background noise. Their focus and attention is honed so that they are better able to attend to a task. Concentration and memory are positively affected as well to make learning much easier. The brain has what's called plasticity - it can change and learn new things - at any age. Learning is the mere process of having the brain change and lay down new neural connections. During session of Little Be.a.r. Listening Therapy, we can improve auditory processing as the brain changes and learns new things through stimulation of the modulated music. Our listening protocol is administered in 30 minute daily sessions with a mandatory 2-day break (the weekend) with enough strength to render it therapeutic and with a determined amount of weeks to follow to give the brain its due time to acclimate and assimilate the sonic information.
What is E.A.R. Formula?
The E.A.R. formula is a sound engineering modulation technique that we have developed to give the ear
its workout. Think about an exercise program you may do. We are doing the same thing with the ear but
with sound and variations of sound techniques. With the E.A.R. Formula, the ear is first “Engaged” by the
music, locked in, in a sort of “priming” phase to acclimate it to the program. The ear then “Attends” to the
music in the rigorous training portion of the program. Finally, the ear recovers from the work-out in the
“Return” phase bringing it back to its pre-engaged state.
