Learning2Listen

WHAT IS AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING?
AIT was developed 48 years ago by Dr Guy Berard, an ear, and nose and throat specialist. Through earphones, children listen to modified and filtered sound frequencies played through an audiokinetron, a machine that can randomize sound frequencies and tones. Dr Berard believes that children with learning problems - for example, those who can't concentration for long, are over-active and impulsive, have trouble spelling, reading, writing and with Math, don't follow instructions properly, frequently forget what they've been told and sometimes seem hearing impaired - very often have "hearing within normal limits" but are unable to process sounds properly. "Hearing, within normal hearing limits doesn't mean good hearing". Even a slight hearing loss will affect a child far more than an adult because the child is still learning about his environment and gaining skills through listening. A young child needs a hearing mechanism that will deliver clear sounds for processing. Sometimes a child's hearing can be so dysfunctional, that sounds, which don't bother most children, can be acutely uncomfortable. As a result they're unable to recognize certain sounds. If the ear's sound decoding process is faulty when it receives sounds, the messages become distorted and the meaning partly lost. A child with an auditory processing disorder will have to work extremely hard to "fill in the gaps" in class or socially and may give up after a while, letting his thoughts wander. These children frequently have poor social skill and are often labeled "immature, lazy or naughty." Auditory Integration Training (AIT) therapy is one of the newest and most exciting approaches in the reduction of sound sensitivity and sound processing difficulties. Auditory Integration Training (AIT) is a technique that stimulates the brain's neural pathways, with electronically altered music, to assist the hearing mechanism, and transmit sound more efficiently. It helps reduce sound processing difficulties and sound sensitivity in many people.
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WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING?
Dr. Berard has utilized his method with individuals having learning problems, language impairments, fluency disorders and behavioral difficulties related to auditory processing deficits. These may include those with learning disabilities (LD), central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), pervasive development delay (PDD), hyper acute hearing sensitivities, hypo-sensitive hearing, stuttering, dyslexia and autism. In his practice Dr Berard has also treated clients who suffered from tinnitus and sound activated mood disorder, depression and suicidal disorders. Hyperacusis or over-sensitive hearing, often affects children with better-than-average hearing. Very often, children who are hyperactive, or are frequently irritable and whinny, as well as 40 percent of autistic children, have over-sensitive hearing. Children with these disabilities cannot concentrate for long, may be hyperactive or even hypo-active, battle to learn and may even pretend to be deaf. Many people hear but the processing does not follow. This problem can also contribute to stuttering. Israel (and the rest of the world) has an untold amount of people with learning disabilities and while not all of them suffer from the brain's inability to process sound, most do. AIT reorganizes auditory processing or input so that the normal output follows hearing.
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HOW IS AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING DONE?
During the therapy participants listen with headphones to a music program of modified and filtered sounds through an Audiokinetron (Earducator). The process of AIT therapy is implemented over a ten-day period, this includes twenty (20), thirty (30) minute sessions, two (2) per day, with at least a two and half-hour break in between sessions. The ten (10) days need to be consecutive but can include a break of no more than 2 days. A listen skills test will detect whether a child has normal hearing or hearing loss, but it doesn't pick up sound processing problems which can affect the quality of sound a child hears. With 20 half-hour sessions - two a day for 10 days - the hearing mechanism will start to transmit auditory information more efficiently.
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WHAT IS THE AUDIOKINETRON (EADUCATOR) AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
Audiokinetron (Earducator) is a machine specially designed by Dr. Berard and Hollagen Design for use during Auditory Integration Training (AIT) therapy and was developed after many years of clinical research. Its ability to randomize loud and quiet sound levels as well as high and low pitched tones, reduces the brain's tendency to block out even annoying sounds. Additionally, the equipment is capable of filtering frequencies, which may be deemed necessary by the practitioner, based on information gathered from the initial listening skills evaluation. The listening program improves perception of all incoming auditory information.
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WHEN CAN POSITIVE CHANGES OCCUR?
Positive changes in behavior, language and hearing sensitivity may occur at any time after the first session and up to six months following therapy. Some of the reported changes include: reduced hypersensitivity to sound, increased attention span, ability to understand what is said, increase in reading score, math and spelling, increase in appropriated social behavior, improved memory, reduced irritability, reduced hyperactivity, reduced destructibility. Precisely when an individual will show change has not been determined and will undoubtedly vary from person to person.
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COULD THE AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING PROGRAM CAUSE HARM?
There is no evidence to indicate that the AIT is harmful in any way. During the therapy, sound is presented within the participants comfort range and EPA and ASHA guidelines. Participants are monitored by a Berard trained Auditory Integration Practitioner and children can have a parent or guardian sit with them during each session. During and after the therapy, physical or behavior side affects have been experienced by many participants. These side effects are considered a positive sign of change and cease as the body adjusts to the new incoming stimuli.
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WHAT ARE SOME OF THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS?
It is possible that some participants may experience physical and behavioral side effects during or following the training. Dr. Berard believes these reactions may indicate the training is producing a change in the participant. In addition, the stresses of travel, modifications in schedule and the environment involved during the training sessions, may also be a factor. Therefore, one should not be too alarmed if reactions occur. Some possible side effects include, but are not limited to headaches, nausea, lethargy, hyperactivity, irritability, aggressiveness, insomnia and fatigue. The most common of these is fatigue, hunger and thirst. NO SIDE EFFECT HAS LASTED PERMANENTLY
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WHY DOES AUDITORY INTEGRATION WORK?
The principal of AIT is simple and based on the same concept involved in any treatment by mechanical means, coming under the heading of mechanotherapy. In the auditory system, going from the eardrum to the brain cells, concise zones exist corresponding to low pitched and high pitched tones. If one or the other of these zones in the auditory system is stimulated by programmed alternating sounds, it is believed that the auditory cortex reorganizes. The treatment gives the ear an aerobic workout - it exercises and strengthens the muscles controlling the three ossicles - the small bones found in the middle ear - and retrains the ear's response to sound, improving the reaction involved in the prevention of sensory overload. The treatment prevents the brain's normal reaction - which is to block out annoying sounds Audiometric examinations carried out in thousands of cases, before, during and after AIT, have supported the accuracy of this reasoning.
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A PERSONAL WORD ABOUT AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING?
After many years of experience with this, very special population. Practitioners worldwide are familiar with the false hopes, the desperate attempts, and the chase for innovative therapy techniques to which these individuals and their families have been exposed. Auditory Integration Training is not a panacea. It is not claiming to be such. Some will have possibly no results at all. Statements like this are not to discount its possibilities but to keep our excitement in check. We, AIT Practitioners, are committed to the populations we serve world wide and to the research we hope will answer some of the many questions. As professionals in this field, we are willing to step forward as pioneers in uncharted areas that have such potential for positive impact on the lives and the families we serve. We are dedicated to high ethical standards and look forward to sharing the hope that AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING offers to our clients who "hear a different drummer."
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