What is Therapeutic Listening? All of our senses (touch, movement, smell, taste, hearing, and vision) facilitate our understanding of the world and enable us develop vital skills.

Sensory processing problems can negatively impact one's mastery of fine and gross motor skills, language processing, and social/emotional development. Dysfunction in one or more of the senses can impact upon many areas of development.

Many researchers consider "listening" to be a form of sensory integration that uses sound vibration to stimulate brain processing.

Historically, listening techniques began with Alfred Tomatis, a French ENT physician. His method (The Tomatis Method) is based on filtered sound and the effects of high frequencies on the whole nervous system. His listening technique progressively filters out low frequency sounds for varying lengths of time. Others such as Guy Berard, a French medical doctor, advanced The Tomatis Method and developed Auditory Integration Training (AIT) to treat people with auditory processing problems. AIT predominately is filtered pop music in which the sound frequencies are electronically altered at random intervals. Ingo Steinbach, a German sound engineer with an extensive background in music and physics, continued as a pioneer in the field of listening. She created the SONAS and SOMONAS methods. Both are recorded in accurate three dimensional space.

SAMONAS (Spectral Activated Music of Optimal Natural Structure) is different from SONAS (Sounds of Optimal Natural Structure) in that the music is spectrally activated, emphasizing the high overtones/harmonics. Bill Meuller, an audio engineer of the US, also created a Therapeutic Listening program called Ease. The music on the Ease discs is modulated so that specific sounds are enhanced while others are simultaneously filtered out in an alternating pattern. Mozart for Modulation is a similarly designed disc. Most of the music used in Therapeutic Listening places emphasis on the higher frequencies.

The processing of higher frequencies of sounds have been linked to attention, arousal, organization, and the discrimination of speech sounds. SPS provides individually tailored Therapeutic Listening programs using modulated music (Ease and Mozart for Modulation) as well as the SONAS/SAMONAS methods. Our Therapeutic Listening protocol can be carried out in the clinic, school and/or home environments.

Therapeutic Listening is completed as least once a day. Programs vary in session length, frequency and intensity to meet individual and family needs. SPS staff Occupational Therapists are extensively trained in prescribing the right program to fit your child and/or your needs. At SPS, we offer you the latest Therapeutic Listening information specifically tailored programming, and our extensive experience and expertise.