THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND IN HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
When you were younger, did you ever have a liking for a
certain type of music? Did your mother ever talk about whether she played music
for you, before you were born? DO you remember the sound of your mother's voice
when you were a child? Everyone responds to varying sounds and sound frequencies
in a differing manner. Sound, from the time an embryo begins the developmental
process inside the mother's womb up to the late adult years, is possibly the
most important factor in the development of the child, from the music often
played for them by their mothers, to the sound of their mother's voice. This
paper explores the importance of sound in development, focusing closely on the
Tomatis Method . "It is a common belief that the primary function of the ear is
to translate words into neural images and to help us stay balanced when we stand
up. But Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis has become accustomed to taking the most well worn
concepts and turning them on the proverbial ear. As an ear, nose and throat
specialist, surgeon, psychologist, and inventor, Dr. Tomatis has spent the last
fifty years redefining the ear's extraordinary significance. Many consider him
to be the 'Einstein of the ear'. And like Albert, Tomatis' theories are not only
brilliant, but quite controversial." It is Dr. Tomatis' belief that the initial
purpose of the ear is to assist the growth of the brain of the unborn child,
that the psychological input of the mother's voice is as pertinent as the
physiological necessity of the umbilical cord. Following birth, the ear's
primary function is to charge the neo-cortex of the brain and thus, the entire
nervous system. Tomatis views sound as a nutrient. When assimilation of the full
spectrum of sound frequency is not possible, the ramifications parallel the
inability to digest food.
Certainly, one would not cease to exist
without sound, though the quality of life would be quite different without the
vital energy that creates focus, motivation, and desire. Without these elements
we are fatigued, uninspired, and ultimately unhealthy. Thus, sound is
essentially food for the mind. (Leeds The Tomatis Method) "Tomatis also notes
that high-frequency sounds energize the brain, whereas low-frequency sounds
drain energy away. For this reason he calls high-frequency sounds 'charging
sounds'. On the other hand, low-frequency sounds tend to wear us out. They make
our bodies move, by activating the semicircular canals of the vestibule. If
those sounds keep on going, our bodies keep moving to the point of exhaustion.
This effect can be observed easily in people listening to rock or rap music. On
the other hand, a piece by Mozart or Back will generate a very different
behavior. Tomatis notes that when our brain is well "charged", we can focus,
concentrate, organize, memorize, learn, and work for long periods of time,
almost effortlessly. When the brain is well 'charged', there seems to be no lack
of energy to innovate, imagine, create. Most children or adults with a good
musical ear get plenty of "Ear Energy", and rarely experience low energy or
feelings of depression. On the other hand, hyperactive children may be moving
around constantly in an attempt to "charge" their brain through vestibular
activities." (The Tomatis Listening and Learning Center Overview of the
Tomatis Method) The ear, after all, is the first organ to be fully
functional, when the fetus reaches an age of four and a half months old. Tomatis
concludes that the voice of the mother is an emotional nutrient, but also a tool
of preparation in the child's learning processes of language skills to follow
birth. Thus, listening begins in the womb. (The Tomatis Listening and Learning
Center Overview of the Tomatis Method)
"For a variety of reasons,
such listening can be obscured, impaired, or shut down altogether. The Tomatis
Method presents a means of retrieving the open listening which is our
birthright." (Leeds The Tomatis Method)
"For this reason, Tomatis
proposes to use the mother's voice to re-open the listening process. The voice
is filtered to match the sounds heard in the womb. From the reactions of both
children and adults, it is clear that the use of the mother's voice has a great
impact: the children often calm down as if the voice was soothing to them: they
show more affection, especially to their mother. Adopted children bond better to
their adoptive mother. The mother's voice provides the strong basis that allows
the listening process to unfold, matching the developmental phases that lead to
the development of language. The whole process is nothing other than trying to
"reprogram" the different stages of human development through a symbolic
experience. Because Tomatis uses the mother's voice as part of the therapeutic
process, some people have concluded wrongly that Tomatis holds the mother
responsible for the difficulties of the child. This does not reflect Tomatis'
position at all. The use of the mother's voice is for Tomatis nothing else than
a therapeutic tool to create or restore the bond between mother and child that
did not develop fully. Hundreds of research studies on attachment show that this
bond is primordial. It is the base on which the sense of personal safety and
desire to communicate are built. By using the mother's voice, Tomatis aims to
instill in the child the desire to reconnect and listen to his primary
caretakers and to his environment. This "psychological" approach has to go hand
in hand with a reworking of the sensory systems. The Tomatis method combines
both, to establish a solid foundation for better development." (The Tomatis
Listening and Learning Center Overview of the Tomatis Method) It is
believed that a mother's strong emotions from anger and resentment to deep calm,
gratitude, and acceptance can contribute and possibly create hormonal changes as
well as neurological impulses that affect the growing fetus. In varying
traditional societies, it has long been recognized that all influences to which
a growing baby is exposed contribute to its health and wellbeing. (Campbell
26) In the Tomatis method, there is much attention placed on fetal and
early childhood hearing processes. "It is as if by being plunged into one's own
past, one were being offered a better way of mastering the future." Dr. Tomatis
continues, "By bringing the ear back to its earliest influences, the filtered
sound treatment enables it in this roundabout way to achieve the most advanced
stage of evolution, that of 'human listening'. A particular state of attention
and tension of its components produces this, a filtered sound restores it." The
restoration is accomplished by listening to specially filtered tapes of Mozart,
and if possible, a recorded sound of the mother's voice. The sound enters from
headsets that have been modified to deliver through bone conduction as well as
the air. The tapes, one's own voice, and Gregorian chants, are fed at different
rates through the Electronic Ear . (Leeds The Tomatis Method)
"Tomatis explains that it is possible to correct a listening or learning
problem by stimulating the muscles of the middle ear, where distinction between
listening and hearing begins." (Campbell 46)
"Additionally, a
'sonic birth' is replicated to stimulate the transition from the liquid prenatal
acoustic environment to the postnatal air acoustic environment. In the passive
phases, the individual listens to sound. In the active phases, one becomes more
involved. The purpose, according to Dr. Gilmor , is to introduce spoken language
in the pre-linguistic and linguistic stage. This is done by humming, singing,
reading aloud, and repeating of specific sentences through a microphone into the
Electronic Ear before being fed back to the ears via earphones. The tones of the
voice are filtered and gated in the same way as the music was in the passive
phase. Additionally, increased stimulation is given to the right ear in order to
enhance its dominance. This is a preferred state for audio-vocal control."
(Leeds The Tomatis Method)
The Tomatis Method, though highly
unorthodox, is said to have powerfully effective results. Those stricken with
learning disabilities, depression and immune disorders seek treatment via the
Tomatis Method. Yet many are utilizing this process for a bit of brain/mind
enhancements such as consciousness exploration and inner healing, just to name a
few. Although it seems too simple and too easy to be able to eliminate one's
listening and learning disabilities without something too high tech as we would
expect in the Western world, it have been documented to have successful ratings.
This and similar methods should be looked into a bit further. "The Tomatis
Center in Toronto (Canada) studied the results of the Listening Therapy on over
400 children and adolescents. They all had well-documented histories of learning
problems as well as a pattern of under-achievement on psycho-educational tests.
The results of treatment were graded by the parents on a 5-pt scale. In this
test, 95% of the parents responded that the program had helped their children."
(The Tomatis Listening and Learning Center Overview of the Tomatis
Method) See results below.
