Learning Ears® The Listening Program® iLs Ear/Voice Training
When listening improves, learning and communication improve.
Integrated listening programs and ear/voice training improve auditory processing skills to help with academic, emotional, musical, expressive, cognitive and social challenges, such as:
* Attention & memory * Reading & spelling * Focus & concentration
* Speech & language * Social skills * Learning disabilities & dyslexia
* Sensory integration * Self-regulation * Balance & coordination
* Vocal problems * Musical skills * Hearing-loss-related difficulties
Listening to specially filtered and engineered music through headphones improves auditory processing abilities. Based on the work of Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis, listening programs gently exercise and tone the tiny muscles in the ear and help build new neural pathways in the brain. Ear/voice training improves vocal control, expression, self-awareness and auditory skills, and solidifies gains made through receptive listening. You are exercising your brain! Like any exercise program, you have to do the program consistently over time to gain the benefits! Programs take an average of 1/2 hour per day, 5 days a week, over a period of months. We will choose the most appropriate programs for your needs. After your initial program, we may follow up with further listening to build on specific gains, or as you feel you need it. I am available to consult with you on an ongoing basis. Personally, I am a committed life-long listener. Music is sonic nutrition for my brain and body, and helps me stay sharp, focused and productive. I encourage you to become a life-long listener, too!
Programs also help performing artists fine-tune their vocal or instrumental abilities by improving the brain's ability to perceive the full spectrum of sound, attune to higher harmonics, and reproduce those in their voice or other instrument. Musicality, expression and technical ability may all improve. Musicians can do more intensive programs if they desire (more time each day listening, get through faster)!
Weekly consultations are an integral part of your program! Consults are generally 30-45 minutes. I have found that those who choose not to do the weekly consultations generally don’t get the results they were hoping for. Consults help you stay on track, customize the program for your needs, and provide additional enrichment that enhances gains. They help you get the most out of your investment!
Read more about auditory processing and how the programs work below.
* Attention & memory * Reading & spelling * Focus & concentration
* Speech & language * Social skills * Learning disabilities & dyslexia
* Sensory integration * Self-regulation * Balance & coordination
* Vocal problems * Musical skills * Hearing-loss-related difficulties
Listening to specially filtered and engineered music through headphones improves auditory processing abilities. Based on the work of Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis, listening programs gently exercise and tone the tiny muscles in the ear and help build new neural pathways in the brain. Ear/voice training improves vocal control, expression, self-awareness and auditory skills, and solidifies gains made through receptive listening. You are exercising your brain! Like any exercise program, you have to do the program consistently over time to gain the benefits! Programs take an average of 1/2 hour per day, 5 days a week, over a period of months. We will choose the most appropriate programs for your needs. After your initial program, we may follow up with further listening to build on specific gains, or as you feel you need it. I am available to consult with you on an ongoing basis. Personally, I am a committed life-long listener. Music is sonic nutrition for my brain and body, and helps me stay sharp, focused and productive. I encourage you to become a life-long listener, too!
Programs also help performing artists fine-tune their vocal or instrumental abilities by improving the brain's ability to perceive the full spectrum of sound, attune to higher harmonics, and reproduce those in their voice or other instrument. Musicality, expression and technical ability may all improve. Musicians can do more intensive programs if they desire (more time each day listening, get through faster)!
Weekly consultations are an integral part of your program! Consults are generally 30-45 minutes. I have found that those who choose not to do the weekly consultations generally don’t get the results they were hoping for. Consults help you stay on track, customize the program for your needs, and provide additional enrichment that enhances gains. They help you get the most out of your investment!
Read more about auditory processing and how the programs work below.
Learning Ears®
On average, my Learning Ears® students have improved reading proficiency by 2.5 grades in 6 months! Learning Ears is a proven educational program of ear/voice training developed by Gayle Moyers, and is designed to be used in combination with your listening program. Easy, fun exercises are done as the client's voice is fed back to their ears through headphones. I generally coach parents to provide Learning Ears at home. Your program is individualized through weekly consultations with me. Learning Ears is done during 15 minutes of your listening program. For more information about Learning Ears®, give me a call, or go to the Resources page.
The Listening Program®
TLP is produced by Advanced Brain Technologies. TLP Spectrum and TLP Level One are home-based listening systems that takes you through a sequence of specially filtered and engineered music. TLP systems include music programs on iPod or CDs, headphones and bone conduction amplifier. (See below for more about bone conduction.) It is generally done for 1/2 hour per day, five days a week, for several months. TLP can be done in conjunction with Learning Ears to increase gains. For more information about TLP, please visit http://advancedbrain.com
iLs (Integrated Listening Systems)
iLs can be done at home or in my studio, and also takes you through a sequence of gradually filtered and engineered music. iLs systems include music programs on iPod, headphones and bone conduction amplifier. iLs also includes physical balance and visual exercises during the first portion of listening each day. iLs systems include a balance board, bean bags and small balls along with the Playbook, which details recommended exercises. iLs is ideally done for one hour per day (though 1/2 hour gets results, too), five days a week for several months, with ear/voice training beginning about half way through. iLs can be done in conjunction with Learning Ears. For more information about iLs, please visit http://integratedlistening.com
| Ear/Voice Training
Using a microphone that feeds your voice directly back to your ears through headphones, you learn to hear yourself more accurately, and develop more confidence and expressive ability. Ear/voice training is an integral part of Learning Ears, and is also an important part of singing and speaking work. (It is one of the tools I used to get my voice back, and boy, is it valuable!) Ear/Voice training is done in conjunction with listening programs, or as part of voice sessions.
 How Does The Process Work?
Your first 30-minute consultation is FREE!
After an initial intake and interview, we will choose the programs that best suit your needs and budget. I will design a listening and ear/voice training plan for you based on your goals and schedule. You will generally listen and do ear/voice work for @ 1/2 hour per day, five days a week, for several months. Weekly consultations with me are an integral part of your program! After your initial program, we may follow up with continued listening to build on specific benefits, or as you feel you need it. I am available to consult with you on an ongoing basis. You purchase the equipment and the TLP or iLs and Learning Ears® programs through me. (A cost estimate is provided after our initial consultation. I need to know something about your needs before I can recommend a program.) Please note: Program and equipment prices are set by the manufacturers. One hour’s coaching on how to use your listening materials is included. My time for regular consultations is charged at $100.00 an hour. At our weekly consults, I monitor your progress, answer your questions, make any needed modifications in your program, and work with any other enrichment programs we choose. You will do most or all of your listening and Learning Ears ear/voice work at home. Ear/Voice training for singers and speakers is done in person, at my studio. We work with a microphone and special headphones, the "hand-mike" technique, and/or with the Estill VoicePrint Plus program (a voice spectrograph program that gives you visual feedback to speed learning). |
Auditory Processing
Auditory processing is what happens when the brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around us. This process of perceiving sound is complex and requires a number of individual skills that need to work together in perfect harmony.
If the harmony is disrupted, it can be difficult to process or interpret auditory information. (Two examples are the ability to hear the difference between the sounds “ba” and “da,” and the ability to tune in to a voice and tune out background sounds.) Childhood ear infections, stress, or the long-term impact of toxic noise, among other things, can diminish the brain’s ability to understand sound. The resulting auditory processing problems can lead to academic, social and emotional challenges. Are auditory processing problems permanent? With sufficient intervention, no. With listening programs and ear/voice training, children and adults with learning/attention difficulties, autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, auditory processing problems, traumatic brain injury, sensory integration and perceptual challenges, vocal problems and difficulty learning a musical instrument have experienced profound improvement.
Air Conduction and Bone Conduction
We hear in two ways:
1. Air conduction - sound vibrations travel through the air, enter the ear, cause the eardrum to vibrate, which passes the sound through the middle ear to the inner ear, where the cochlea and vestibule receive the sound vibrations and pass messages to the brain, which then interprets them as sound and movement. 2. Bone conduction - sound vibrations are perceived in our bones and skin and passed directly to the inner ear through the bones, stimulating the cochlea and vestibule, which pass messages to the brain, which then interprets them as sound and movement. Lower frequencies in particular and conducted by bone, and have a positive effect on vestibular function.  | Psychoacoustics and Dr. Alfred Tomatis
Psychoacoustics is the study of the perception of sound. This includes how we listen, our psychological responses and the physiological effect of music and sound on the human nervous system. The field builds on the work of Alfred A. Tomatis, MD, who helped identify the relationship between certain sound frequencies and their effect on functions of the mind and body. He is the discoverer of The Tomatis Effect: "The voice can only produce what the ear can hear," or "The voice only contains the frequencies the ear can hear."
The field of psychoacoustics is constantly evolving and growing. Clinical research in fields including neurology, physiology, psychoacoustics, auditory processing, music theory and more has been included in the development of all the programs I offer. Dr. Tomatis identified frequency zones that have different effects on our brains & bodies. The Tomatis Zones
Full Spectrum – provides an overall “organizing” experience.
Sensory Integration (The Body Zone) - targets the lower frequencies to stimulate functions such as balance, coordination, motor skills and more. Speech & Language – emphasizes the mid to higher frequencies to stimulate the brain for memory, attention, vocal control and more. High Spectrum – focuses on the higher frequencies that impact creativity, expression, intuition, energy and more.
This multi-sensory approach accelerates and expands the benefits of listening programs. Portable and affordable, bone conduction technology offers the convenience of home or school based listening and is now available with all our systems. Bone conduction headphones contain a transducer in the center of the headband which vibrates sound directly to the top of the head. An amplifier must be used to vibrate the transducer, so a bone conduction system consists of special bone conduction headphones + a bone conduction amplifier. Ask me if bone conduction technology is right for your needs.
|
