Listening For Content is Work We Take for Granted

A question for our readers: As you comprehend this string of text in front of you right now, do you “hear” a “voice” reading the words to you? Maybe it’s your own voice, or maybe it’s the voice of a someone our authorial voice here reminds you of (hopefully something distinguished, like a professor or a crossing guard), but as you read them your brain is transforming them into sounds that allow you to grasp their meaning, with the added benefit of adding a kind of “human accent” that helps you comprehend and retain the information you are taking in. Perhaps it’s so obvious that you are questioning why we even point it out – but understanding this, you are already most of the way to understand why our practice focuses so closely on auditory processing and listening. Optimal listening is essential to – and often a strong predictor of – success in learning, work and relationships. So far so good – but what is optimizal listening, really?

Optimal Listening is When We Integrate Content and Melody

The human faculty of speech is so taken for granted that it’s easy to miss just how much work is being done “under the hood” in the brain every time we use it. To understand speech, a wealth of mental processes are employed – identifying the “melody” (tonal inflection) of the sentence, applying that to the “content” (the words being said), and by way of integrating the two, comprehending the meaning of the speech. We do the same thing in reverse when formulating a response: assemble the content and deliver it via an appropriate melody. While it may come naturally to us as humans, the act of everyday speech hides a great deal of complexity and sophistication, with several complex neural networks all working in concert – and if any of these mechanisms find themselves lacking in strength or maturity, the entire machinery becomes less effective.

An Orchestra of Neurons – Those That Fire Together, Wire Together

For example, poor pitch perception might make melody harder to parse, which will in turn obscure the content of the speech being heard; difficulties with distinguishing or locating sounds common to speech might the muddle the content to the point that comprehending the melody isn’t enough to understand the meaning. But our brains understand how vital a functioning communication apparatus is to survival – and so if one part of the brain is not able to carry its weight, another more mature part will be forced to compensate. And while this may suit us in the short term, but repeated use of other parts of the brain for things they are not built to do can have far-reaching consequences for other vital functions, such as attention, working memory, and emotional regulation.

 Listening Training Can Help with Reading, Memory, Attention and More

While that last sentence might sound pretty grim, the good news is that these same adaptive mechanisms can be put to use to correct the balance. This is the premise of listening training – using clinically applied sonic stimulation, the brain can be “trained” on the auditory content that is relevant to speech, freeing up resources that would otherwise be needed to compensate, and thereby improving overall functionality. And the best part is that, since this training relies on leveraging the innate capabilities of the brain to process auditory information and also integrate these with other sensory inputs and memory impressions, the progress one makes is reinforced simply by participating in communication as one did before the training – that is to say, you won’t need to keep coming back!

If you or your child have been experiencing persistent difficulties with communication, reach out to our office today for a free phone consultation to see whether our listening training programs are a good fit for you. To read more about our approach to optimize your listening or auditory processing function please visit Auditory Processing Disorder Therapy – Liliana Sacarin – Seattle, WA