Solisten ®

Sound Training

What is the Tomatis® Method?

• A sound therapy that uses music to :

• train Listening • help improve Sensory functioning• help improve Cognitive and

Neurological functioning• help improve Emotional wellbeing

Dr. Alfred Tomatis

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• 1 January 1920 – 25 December 2001

• He was a French ENT doctor atthe Paris Faculty of Medicine, a specialist of hearing and language disorders

• Several sound therapies are based on the Tomatis method, e.g. Berard AIT and iLs

• Solisten is a trademark owned exclusively by Tomatis Developpement SA

Who can benefit?

• Learning difficulties

• Attention disorders

• Developmental delays

• Communication and speech delays and disorders

• Pervasive developmental disorders

• Sensory integration disorder

• Auditory integration difficulties

• Anxiety and depression

• Helpful in the rehabilitation of stroke victims

Solisten® Device

The Solisten device uses sound in the form of engineered, processed music:

•Mozart

•Gregorian Chant

•Waltz.

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The Types of Music• Mozart, especially his works that are

rich in high harmonics for their brain-energising function;

• Gregorian Chants that have a proven regulating and calming effect on the autonomic nervous system;

• Strauss waltzes that have a stimulating effect on the vestibular system and promotes the establishment of rhythm and balance.

Corrective Action

• The Tomatis® method acts on the 3 core

functions of the ear:

• Energy function• Vestibular function• Auditory function

Energy function

• Sound is needed for cortical stimulation.

• Especially sounds that are rich in high harmonics, have the ability to stimulate the reticular formation in the brain which controls the overall activity level of the brain.

Vestibular function

• Benefits posture, balance, motor functions and muscle-tone.

• A well functioning vestibular system is fundamental to learning.

The Auditory Function

• The ears contain structures for both the sense of hearing and the sense of balance.

Listening vs. hearing

• Listening is an active activity that involves receiving, deciphering, and perceiving a message with the intent to respond.

• Listening = purpose.

• Listening is to hearing what aiming is to sight.(Tomatis)

Distortions of Listening

• Someone may hear well but listen poorly.• Emotional disturbances• Adjustment difficulties• Factors in the acoustic environment• A listening bias

• The sound message is correctly heard but poorly analysed in an emotional framework.

• The brain protects itself by constructing barriers that can result in the development or exacerbation of various disorders.

A Pedagogical Tool

• ”The ear is learning to listen”.

• The Tomatis ®

Method stimulates the brain and progressively helps it to analyse the sound message more effectively.

Effect on the brain

• The ear is connected to 7 of the 12 pairs of cranial nerves:• II, III, IV and VI (the eyes and vision)• VIII – the vestibulocochlear nerve• X – the vagus nerve• XI – the spino-accessory nerve

• Through the auditory pathways, the Tomatis

® Method affects the entire

nervous system

Cranial Nerve: Major Functions: II Optic vision

III Oculomotor eyelid and eyeball movement

IV Trochlear innervates superior oblique turns eye downward and laterally

VI Abducens turns eye laterally

VIII Vestibulo-cochlear (auditory)

hearing and equilibrium sensation

X Vagus senses aortic blood pressure slows heart rate stimulates digestive organs taste

XI Spinal Accessory controls trapezius & sternocleidomastoid controls swallowing movements

The Ear as Sensory Information Processing Organ

• About 90% of sensory information processing involves the ear.

• The sensory system functions as a whole:• by stimulating the ear, we can have an

effect on the entire sensory system.

Sensory Processing

• How the brain registers, interprets and uses information from the sensory systems.

• The sensory systems include:• Sight (visual system)• Hearing (auditory system)• Taste (gustatory system)• Touch (tactile system)• Smell (olfactory system)• Body awareness (proprioceptive system)• Balance (vestibular system)

Regulation of Sensory Input

• Our brain is constantly bombarded by sensory input.

• With the exception of smell, all other sensory input is filtered by the brain stem before further dealt with. It is either:

• Deemed insignificant and ignored.• Deemed important, thus noticed and relayed

to the appropriate area of the brain for a response.

• Habituated or eventually ignored if the input is constant, for example wearing a seatbelt.

Sensory Processing Difficulties

• Can affect anybody

• Can range from mild to severe

• Tend to be more common in those with conditions such as autism, Tourette syndrome, Fragile X, ADHD, learning difficulties, etc.

Brain development and function

• Sensory input is needed for our brain to develop and to continue functioning properly.

• Research indicates that sensory input may improve the neural circuitry.

• We can use sensory input to change our arousal state.

Bunty’s Wall Model

Parameters of the Tomatis® Method

• Bone conduction

• Electronic gating• C1 & C2• Delay & precession• Stapedial reflex

• Filtering

Bone Conduction• Two types of sound conduction:

• Bone conduction• through the skull• vibrations directly inform the auditory

nerve;

•

Air conduction• airwaves cause the tympanic membrane to

send vibrations to the inner ear to stimulate the vestibulo-cochlear nerve (auditory vestibular nerve).

Bone conduction• Sound travels faster through bone

than through air.

• BC prepares the body for the auditory message delivered through Air Conduction.• causes the whole body to assume

the “listening posture”

Gating• 2 alternating circuits stem from

the amplifier:

C1 : low frequencies which puts the ear in a state of relaxation.

When the music reaches a certain intensity, a switch occurs to C2 whilst C1 cuts off.

C2 : higher frequencies which puts the ear in a state of effort.

When the intensity drops the system switches back. C1 opens while C2 cuts off.

C1

C2

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The switching is dependant on the changes of intensity in the music, and is therefore, unpredictable, causing the brain and ear to be in a constant state of alert

Gating: Delay• There is a delay between the moment when

the “gate” is going to switch over and the moment when it actually does switch over from C1 to C2.

• The delay allows the ear time to put itself in a listening position, that is, to prepare for the auditory message that is about to follow.

• We always start with the Basic program, which has the longest delays allowing the ear enough time to prepare for the sound message.

Precession• Time needed for the Bone Conduction to

precede the Air Conduction.

• The cochlea has already received the sound through BC and has made a first analysis.

• In response, it will adjust the tension of the tympanic membrane in preparation for the airwave it is about to receive.

• This period of precession allows the whole body to prepare itself for listening.

Filtering• It is the amplification or attenuation of the

high and/or low frequencies of the sound spectrum.

• Four types of filters: High pass filters Low pass filters Band pass filters Band rejection filters

Filtering• No filtering is used in the Basic program.

• Three filtering levels are used in the remaining programs:• Filtering at 500 Hz with a 24dB/octave

slope;• Filtering at 1000 Hz with a 12 dB/ octave

slope;• Filtering at 2500 Hz with a 6 dB/ octave

slope.

• Solisten uses “soft slopes” to makes the changes brought about by gating and filters, easier on the ear.

The Filters• 500 Hz filtering is used in the programs

Emotional Language Memory & Attention.

• 1000 Hz is used particularly in the Language program to work on the 2nd formant zone – the vowels area (750 Hz to 3000 Hz) and in the Memory & Attention program to stimulate verbal memory and attention.

• 2500 Hz is used particularly in the Language program to work on the 3rd and 4th formants – the fricatives area (s, j, ch, z, f). The fricatives area spreads widely in treble frequencies.

Programmes

• Basic

• Emotional E1A E1B E2

• Memory & Attention MA1 MA2

• Language L1 L2

Sessions

• First intensive – 30 hours2 hours a day over 15 days4 week integration period

• Second intensive – 30 hours2 hours a day over 15 days4 - 8 week integration period

• ASD usually need more sessions

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The Process

Clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder usually need more sessions

Repeat as needed

Intensive: 30 hours,

2 hours a day over 15 days

Intensive:30 hours

2 hours a day over 15 days

4 week integration

period

Initial Consultation

Pre-testing Post-testing

Parent feedback

4 week integration

period

Exit

Cost

• R130 per hour

• Includes consultation, Solisten pre- and post testing, and feedback

• Excludes any tests and evaluations by therapist from other fields, e.g. OTs, psychologists or speech therapists

• Total, including 60 hours of listening plus testing, R8000

Thank You for Listening!!