Hearing is essential to our every relationship,
social event, work meeting and our ability to be connected with,
communicate and play a vital role in our families. Sound Therapy has
helped thousands of people to hear more easily, improving
relationships, reducing social stress and frustration, improving career
performance, self esteem and enjoyment of life.
When a member of the family begins to lose their
hearing, it is often the other members who notice it first and are most
affected by it. Those who are losing their hearing often deny that it
is happening and believe others are just not speaking clearly. Some
early signs of hearing loss are difficulty hearing in a noisy room,
known as Cocktail Party
Syndrome, needing the TV turned up louder than everybody else,
misunderstanding words or having to ask people to repeat themselves.
One of the reasons for the denial, is that people may hate the idea of
wearing a hearing aid.
Loss of hearing affects social participation more
than any other sense. Language is our means of communicating with
people so all aspects of life are affected including work,
relationships, family, education and recreation. For many people this
can be devastating, affecting their career, leading to lowered self
esteem, reduced income, social isolation and reduced options in life.
It is important to take steps to improve ones hearing ability both by
using hearing aids, if appropriate, and with Sound Therapy which
directly enhances the performance of the natural ear.
Sound Therapy offers a great alternative for
several reasons:
It may eliminate or delay the need for hearing
aids in mild cases of hearing loss
It tunes up high frequency hearing, making
speech comprehension easier
It is a natural approach, improving the body's
own function rather than compensating with a device
For hearing aid users, Sound Therapy helps them
to use their hearing aids more successfully. This is because it
activates the ear muscles, improving the focusing function of the ear
and improves central auditory processing. Some hearing aid users get
such significant improvement from Sound Therapy that they no longer
need hearing aids.
Real life listeners tell how Sound Therapy helped
their hearing
Ed Rohner, President, United Fretters Ltd.,
Saskatoon , Canada :
"The greatest benefit that Sound Therapy
has had for me so far is in the area of hearing. I have a
noticeable improvement in hearing and need less volume on my Walkman
ä all the time. Also, I'm aware of having acquired the capacity
for more highs. Most important of all for a musician, I am
getting closer to pitch. I find I'm able to compensate the
tuning which is required on any string instrument. With the increase in
musical perception I am getting much more critical of sound. I
firmly believe that a person who was tone deaf would be able to change
that condition with Sound Therapy."
Dan Stuckel, Red Deer , Alberta , Canada :
"Before I began using the Sound Therapy tapes my
hearing was becoming progressively worse. Ear specialists told me it
was caused by nerve damage, therefore there was nothing which could be
done for me. They said the ringing in my ears would become louder as
time went on, thereby reducing my ability to hear. I purchased an 'in
the ear model' hearing aid after I found their predictions to be
correct. My hearing did indeed deteriorate. I found I had to wear the
hearing aid more and more as time went on, to a point where I was
wearing it 80% of the time.
After about 3 weeks of beginning the Sound
Therapy, the ringing in my ears began to subside. Along with
that my hearing also began to improve. One day I felt
something almost like a minor earthquake taking place deep within my
ears. Since then my hearing has improved to such an extent
that I seldom have to use my hearing aid . I am able to
function quite well without it now, after 7 months of Sound Therapy.
To list a few of the
other benefits from this therapy: I am able to sleep better and can do
with much less sleep than previously required . I am doing
less needless worrying and stressing situations are much easier to cope
with than they were before. In fact my entire well being is showing a
vast improvement."
Gladys Irwin, West Pennant Hills, NSW
Australia :
" After a hearing test three
years ago, I was fitted with hearing aids, which proved helpful. After
several months the tinnitus in the right ear was so strong that the aid
was useless.
When I learned about Sound
Therapy early in 1981 I purchased the book which I found fascinating,
so I tried the tapes. For eight months I have persevered with the
treatment. In the last three months I realised my hearing had
improved so that I can now do without the aids.
This was confirmed recently when I was examined by
an ear, nose and throat specialist, who said that I had the hearing of
a woman forty - I am eighty-seven!
Now I can hear the Bell
Birds unaided ."
Darrell Johnson, Delisle, Saskatchewan , Canada :
"About four years ago I started getting ringing in
the left ear, followed by light-headedness and dizziness. Sometimes I
couldn't stand without falling. This I was getting about once a month,
then twice a month, soon twice a week and not long later three or four
times a day. My doctor told me I had Meniere's Syndrome, which is a
problem of the inner ear past the stirrup. There wasn't much that could
be done; I would just have to put up with it. Being my age was 53, I
knew I would be quite some time putting up with this problem.
Then I heard about Sound Therapy. I bought the
Sony Walkman ä and tapes. Now, four months later, I have no
light-headedness and dizziness, and the ringing in my left ear has
gone. The hearing in my left ear has also improved.
I can't express how much Sound Therapy has done for me. I am never
dragged out and tired any more. I can stay up very late at night and
still get up rested early in the morning. Also, I don't get uptight and
stressed about the little setbacks of the day, but can just relax and
take them in my stride. I even find it easier to talk to people - am
not so shy! It's like a new life."
Flick Evans, Somers , Victoria , Australia :
"In the early part of 1989, I began to suffer from
Tinnitus and only by mid 1989 had received medical advice that nothing
could be done about it. I read the Sound Therapy book from cover to
cover at least four times, and each time put it down - convinced that
it was just too good to be true.
I mentioned it to a member of our local library,
who told me that her daughter was using the tapes and ".wished that she
had started 2 years earlier." So I decided to try them, without any
great hopes or expectations.
I had been listening for approximately 100 hours
when I suddenly became aware that the Tinnitus whistle had stopped - I
wasn't sure WHEN it stopped - but it had. Since then I have
periodically been aware of the whistle but by relaxing my head muscles
for about 2 minutes - it disappears.
About the same time I noticed distinct
improvement in hearing to my left ear - there had been noticeable loss
in that ear for about 3 years.
I had a client who served in
the Royal Navy during the last War - in Gun turrets on board ships in
action. His hearing was affected to the extent that one had to raise
ones voice when conversing with him. After my hearing improvement I
started talking to him about Sound Therapy - and eventually found him
with his Walkman and tapes. A few weeks later I received a phone call
at 11 p.m. one evening. It was my client - and his message was that ".I
thought I would ring and let you know that I have just heard my wife's
Microwave 'BEEP' for the first time." 'nuff said!
I do not know what response
others will get from the tapes. I can only say that I have been VERY,
VERY satisfied."
Annaliese Palsans, Ahrensburg , Germany :
"It's a wonder! Your sound therapy has helped
really. One morning, it was the 22 nd of August, I suddenly noticed
that the noises on the left ear had gone. I switched on the television
to look if the speakers words are more clearly, and they were. I
couldn't believe and knocked on wooden things - Germans do that to make
sure that a situation will stay long. I didn't tell Jurgen but the
whole day I put the buttons in and off the ears to make sure there are
still no noises. Up to this day I have no noises in the left ear and
can hear very well the whole day. At first (my doctor) wasn't very
interested. The audiogram tells him the truth. My left ear is
as good as it has been before all the trouble began. He has never had a
patient whose ears had become better again, when they had been as bad
as mine.
Two week later.
I'm still happy, for the good success goes on. Now
the right ear, too starts to get better. There are still
noises but I can hear the music on a lower condition so by and by there
changes something too.
Friends of mine often tell me, that I'm now again
this person they have known before I became ill, though I thought I had
never shown how desperate I was. They must have noticed it."
William A. Whiteside, Toowomba , Queensland ,
Australia :
"My hearing was progressively deteriorating and my
social life disintegrating as I could not possibly concentrate on a
conversation in an environment with a cross current of various
conversations. When trying to sing in church I could not hear my own
voice, and so gave up trying. Whereas I used to enjoy music, now it
just existed and gave me very little lift. I had to try so hard to
distinguish any words a soloist was singing.
Road noise drove me frantic. The noises I did not
want to hear became a maddening roar, and those I wanted to hear I
could not.
After listening to the Sound Therapy tapes, all
this is changing. It brings tears of gratitude to my eyes, this
recharging of life, made possible by this wonderful therapy. I
can now hear the timbre in my own voice as I sing equally with that of
others, and I can even hear the birds singing as I walk in the park. I
am using my hearing aids less and less.
It is more than just improved hearing though. I
find myself able and willing to communicate with people, it is easier
to smile and reciprocate love.
Hans Wuelfert, Lavington, NSW, Australia :
When I was in the German army in January 1944, I
had an infection of both inner ears and the Eustachian tubes. Because
my temperature was only slightly elevated I was given a few Aspros. The
greater part of the problem became chronic.
A year later I was a gunner in a light armoured
car. During gunnery exercise there was a malfunction in the 2cm. Gun
which caused some kind of explosion. Fortunately all the hatches were
open, but I had little hearing or sense of balance for a few days.
The result of both incidents was tinnitus with a
combination of sounds; a waterfall, ringing and static. My eardrums
tended to feel sucked in, quite uncomfortable at times, often I could
not pop them out when I blew my nose with nostrils blocked.
In 1979 a sinus condition developed which I blamed
on the type of chalk I was using as a teacher. My singing tended to be
out of tune. The range of notes became narrower. For many years I
suffered from tiredness which I now attribute to some degree to the
"low-frequency noise."
In January 1987 I had encephalitis and myelitis
endemic to the Murray Valley . At one stage the resulting symptoms were
called the M.E. syndrome: chronic lack of energy; diminished long-term
and short-term memory, self inflicted stress, pronounced sensitivity to
variations in atmospheric conditions.
After two months of Sound Therapy (330 hours) this
is my assessment:
Sinus condition has improved gradually and is
about 80% better in general.
Eustachian tubes improved about 50%
Left ear, much lighter noise of a higher pitch,
almost pleasant compassed with the original noise. Congestion far less,
about 70% better.
Right ear; very slight ringing, higher pitch, some
congestion left, about 90% better.
Hearing in general has improved. All the
sounds are crisper. At the dentist the "new" crisp sound of the drill
nearly m a de me happy.
Singing : during walks along the open
road, there is a "resonance space" again in my head, singing is in tune
again and I can correct a wrong note.
Deep refreshing sleep. Requirements shortened by
1-2 hours.
Energy seems to have increased, I find it easier
to start something, have a bit more go.
Memory has improved slightly. Words of some
forgotten songs have come back and dialling a phone number is a lot
easier.
Generally speaking, I feel that a considerable
change has been going on within me and apparently still is."
K. Joseph Biggs, Burleigh Heads , Queensland ,
Australia :
"Looking back over past years, I have come
to the conclusion that somewhere in my childhood, I closed off my
hearing level to a point where the darkness of retreating eventually
overcame my ability to want to hear.
...by the time I was 35, I had passed through some
of the most disastrous years of my young life. About that time I
contracted an industrial disorder where industrial noises repeat in the
hearing long after the noise is out of range. Within the next four
years, I made an appointment (out of sheer frustration) with a
specialist who performed a stapedectomy.
I say categorically, no person should be subjected
to this dangerous treatment before being alerted to the alternative
treatment which sound therapy provides.
I was always mentally drained, the numbness was
still there and there seemed something pressing on the ears which
affected my ability to hear. My doctor shrugged his shoulders and said
the audio test was the same as that taken about four years ago.
I commenced sound therapy in January 1991. After
about 200 hours of listening everyday.I noticed some changes, headaches
diminished, tiredness fading, less restless sleep. Shoulder and back
pain reduced, posture improved, better sense of direction of sound,
improved sense of balance. Hearing improved, fuzzy noises in
ears not so apparent.
Previously, trying to talk to a group of
people in a room was nearly impossible, and a one on one conversation
always brought signs of rejection, when everyone else thought that they
were not part of the conversation.
I have now clocked up 444 continuous days for a
total of 2043 hours, and now average about 3.5 hours per day. You don't
have to be sick to gain benefit. One very noticeable benefit
is the correlation between resonance in the voice and the ear. If you
can hear better, you can speak better.
Noises in the ear, (by the way aggravated by an
operation) at times now reduce to zero. I am not embarrassed by noisy
locations, or entering into casual conversation. Sometimes there is
pain in the ears, but this soon passes. The reduced need for sleep,
about six hours per night, is sufficient and does not interfere with
what may have been necessary previously.
Being able to express thought better, do not tire
easily - more energy, posture improved, mental alertness, self
confidence, better concentration, more relaxed - but alert, some
dizziness - soon passes.
There is no doubt in my mind, the findings of Dr.
Tomatis are widespread, with outside noise levels discharging our
energy and childhood problems being carried into adult life..a great
deal of credit must go to Patricia Joudry for her effort in making the
treatment available."
Psychological factors - inability to resolve
personal issues and communicate.
Otosclerosis - overgrowth of the cochlear bone
which results in fusing the stapes to the cochlea.
How does Sound Therapy help hearing?
Sound Therapy helps in three ways.
1. Exercising the muscles.
The middle ear contains two tiny muscles, the
tensor tympani and the stapedius. Good muscle tone and flexibility is
essential for the fine tuning of the middle ear mechanism. The
alternating high and low frequencies cause the ear muscles to
repeatedly tense and relax. This exercise restores muscle tone and
improves the functioning of the whole ear mechanism.
2. Stimulating the cilia.
On the Sound Therapy tapes the low frequency (low
tone) sounds are progressively removed and the high frequencies are
augmented. These high frequency sounds stimulate the cilia (the fine,
hair like sensory cells in the inner ear). Where the cilia have been
flattened by too much noise, the high frequency sound stimulates them
to return to their upright position. This restores the person's hearing
in the high frequencies.
3. Psychological opening.
Hearing is sometimes closed down to some extent
for psychological reasons. Sound Therapy encourages resolution of
psychological issues by reintroducing high frequency sound and
re-creating the pre-birth experience of sound. As the psychological
issues are resolved, the person can allow themselves to open to the
full range of hearing.
For more information on the Sound Therapy program
it is recommended that you read the book:
Sound Therapy: Music to Recharge your
Brain, by Patricia and Rafaele Joudry.
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