author: Melanie Elliott-Nightingale
A large percentage of people do not attend to sounds enough to process them for use. Many children and adults have learning difficulties or behavioral challenges. Some seem attention deficit, others personality disordered and still others are just out of sync. All have problems that originate in poor sensory integration which include auditory processing disorders, visual developmental lags, poor motor development, difficulty learning and poor interpersonal relationships.
Their are specific diagnostic clues that put these individuals into a specific group. An inability to remember lists of things heard, poor coordination, mental confusion and many other out-of-sync characteristics including seemingly being lost in space at times are diagnostic.
Dr. Jean Ayres, one of the leading pioneers of the concept of sensory integration felt that that all our senses must work equally. In other words, the sense of touch, smell, taste, sight and sound must work together and that the above senses, along with movement and body awareness, must work harmoniously.
Ayers beliefs center on the thought that the senses send gathered information to the brain where it is interpreted and organized. This is what is called sensory integration. According to Ayers, if a sensory input fails and does not work in harmony with the others, the learning process and quality of life are compromised. She believed also that the vestibular system was responsible for body control and that a well-modulated vestibular activity is mandatory for maintaining a calm, alert state. Rocking in a chair, swinging, spinning in an office chair, all can help in vestibular development to improve sensory integration.
Some people stimulate their brains through constant moving. These individuals are labeled hyperactive and many medicated to stop the movement. This then, delays the continuing development that is necessary for adequate function, causing learning difficulties, development lags, behaviour disorders and a marked inability to succeed as adolescents and adults. They possess a need to control their environments throughout adulthood damaging most interpersonal relationships.
Many of these individuals have auditory processing difficulties. Some experienced loud shouting, mechanical noises, screaming or physical abuse as children and now shut out certain hearing frequencies. This defense mechanism, useful when needed, proves difficult to strengthen later in life when sound is necessary for normal daily living. This exaggerated survival need continues into adulthood without discovery, making many therapies difficult and non-progressive. For this reason therapists must recognize the lack of processing abilities in these clients and recognize that successful outcomes may not be possible until prior work is done to improve auditory processing.
To better understand the auditory process it is important to understand that at one time it was accepted that both ears were identical. This is physically not possible. The right ear is connected to the left brain, the area where language is processed. The left ear, however, is connected to the right brain where language cannot be processed. Therefore, language must be transported over the corpus collosum (the bridge between the hemispheres) to the left brain. This is a slower connection but also a less reliable one.
During the crossover, high frequencies are lost which are required for interpreting language. It is imperative that talk therapies, etc. realize that auditory processing not be taking place and visualization may be modality more successful.
On a personal note: the above is my experience and in order to enhance language skills, I have had to use the communication therapy of speechreading.
As stated earlier, learning requires focus. Complete focus is difficult when hearing is controlled by bone conduction only. Hearing is a function of the entire body, not ears only. The bones of the body are particularly good sound conductors, actually, too good. Loud noises, loud voices are particularly distracting to those who hear every sound in their environment. Rooms in schools or the workplace are extremely noisy for the person who cannot screen sounds and can hear everything. The scratching of a pencil on paper, breathing, shuffling of feet, chairs moving in the workplace are reasons for distraction from the task at hand.
To these individuals all sounds are intrusive and they immediately shut out sounds for protection. Thus, any auditory input is cancelled and he person is left to try to decide what is happening. Without auditory guidance, behaviour suffers and the lack of ability to focus is augmented.
In an auditory processing disorder, sound is heard but the act of processing through the brain is impaired. The sounds are transmitted directly to the inner ear without any filter to dampen the intensity, letting the *involuntary startle-reflex (a personal experience of the author) occur, physically lashing out, or anger can result. People experiencing this bombardment of sound have no ability to tune out extraneous noise around them. Every sound has the same amount of value. They try to catch a word but the noise from somewhere else distracts them and they miss part of the auditory process. They do not know what instructions were given or what the conversation was about. As a result they are blamed for not paying attention and experience.
1. being overwhemed
2. difficult in learning
3. being ashamed that they cannot focus
4. constantly being behind others in activities
5. highly distracted
6. constantly being confused by sound overloads
7. lack of confidence
8. need to control environment
9. experience great frustration leading to anxiety and panic
In order to cope with these difficulties, people with auditory processing difficulties continually:
1. tune out
2. become lethargic or quiet
3. over react to inuput
4. jump from one topic to another when talking
5. resemble attention deficit behaviour
Any program that will help these individual must be based on many disciplines. To date there is no one single modality for improvement but the combinations of dominant right ear training, stimulation of the vestibular system, audio-visual stimulation and others will help these people improve their quality of life.
A suggested exercise (by author): The use of an inexpensive set of earphones and cutting the wires to the left earphone helps direct all sounds of an individuals voice, music into the right ear. This assists in developing dominance in the right ear and balance the brain function to improve attention and auditory processing ability.
Ayers beliefs center on the thought that the senses send gathered information to the brain where it is interpreted and organized. This is what is called sensory integration. According to Ayers, if a sensory input fails and does not work in harmony with the others, the learning process and quality of life are compromised. She believed also that the vestibular system was responsible for body control and that a well-modulated vestibular activity is mandatory for maintaining a calm, alert state. Rocking in a chair, swinging, spinning in an office chair, all can help in vestibular development to improve sensory integration.
Some people stimulate their brains through constant moving. These individuals are labeled hyperactive and many medicated to stop the movement. This then, delays the continuing development that is necessary for adequate function, causing learning difficulties, development lags, behaviour disorders and a marked inability to succeed as adolescents and adults. They possess a need to control their environments throughout adulthood damaging most interpersonal relationships.
Many of these individuals have auditory processing difficulties. Some experienced loud shouting, mechanical noises, screaming or physical abuse as children and now shut out certain hearing frequencies. This defense mechanism, useful when needed, proves difficult to strengthen later in life when sound is necessary for normal daily living. This exaggerated survival need continues into adulthood without discovery, making many therapies difficult and non-progressive. For this reason therapists must recognize the lack of processing abilities in these clients and recognize that successful outcomes may not be possible until prior work is done to improve auditory processing.
To better understand the auditory process it is important to understand that at one time it was accepted that both ears were identical. This is physically not possible. The right ear is connected to the left brain, the area where language is processed. The left ear, however, is connected to the right brain where language cannot be processed. Therefore, language must be transported over the corpus collosum (the bridge between the hemispheres) to the left brain. This is a slower connection but also a less reliable one.
During the crossover, high frequencies are lost which are required for interpreting language. It is imperative that talk therapies, etc. realize that auditory processing not be taking place and visualization may be modality more successful.
On a personal note: the above is my experience and in order to enhance language skills, I have had to use the communication therapy of speechreading.
As stated earlier, learning requires focus. Complete focus is difficult when hearing is controlled by bone conduction only. Hearing is a function of the entire body, not ears only. The bones of the body are particularly good sound conductors, actually, too good. Loud noises, loud voices are particularly distracting to those who hear every sound in their environment. Rooms in schools or the workplace are extremely noisy for the person who cannot screen sounds and can hear everything. The scratching of a pencil on paper, breathing, shuffling of feet, chairs moving in the workplace are reasons for distraction from the task at hand.
To these individuals all sounds are intrusive and they immediately shut out sounds for protection. Thus, any auditory input is cancelled and he person is left to try to decide what is happening. Without auditory guidance, behaviour suffers and the lack of ability to focus is augmented.
In an auditory processing disorder, sound is heard but the act of processing through the brain is impaired. The sounds are transmitted directly to the inner ear without any filter to dampen the intensity, letting the *involuntary startle-reflex (a personal experience of the author) occur, physically lashing out, or anger can result. People experiencing this bombardment of sound have no ability to tune out extraneous noise around them. Every sound has the same amount of value. They try to catch a word but the noise from somewhere else distracts them and they miss part of the auditory process. They do not know what instructions were given or what the conversation was about. As a result they are blamed for not paying attention and experience.
1. being overwhemed
2. difficult in learning
3. being ashamed that they cannot focus
4. constantly being behind others in activities
5. highly distracted
6. constantly being confused by sound overloads
7. lack of confidence
8. need to control environment
9. experience great frustration leading to anxiety and panic
In order to cope with these difficulties, people with auditory processing difficulties continually:
1. tune out
2. become lethargic or quiet
3. over react to inuput
4. jump from one topic to another when talking
5. resemble attention deficit behaviour
Any program that will help these individual must be based on many disciplines. To date there is no one single modality for improvement but the combinations of dominant right ear training, stimulation of the vestibular system, audio-visual stimulation and others will help these people improve their quality of life.
A suggested exercise (by author): The use of an inexpensive set of earphones and cutting the wires to the left earphone helps direct all sounds of an individuals voice, music into the right ear. This assists in developing dominance in the right ear and balance the brain function to improve attention and auditory processing ability.
