Last week, my OT gave me some written information explaining how neuro-typical people process sound and why Therapeutic Listening might be helpful to people with sensory processing issues. One of the articles, A Brief Introduction to Therapeutic Listening, Vital Links 2006, was especially helpful. I’ll do my best to summarize the information from that article and to share my responses.
Listening: It’s Not Easy
Reading about how neuro-typical people take in and interpret sound gave me a profound sense of the difficulties that Aspies have with auditory stimuli.
Both consciously and unconsciously, human beings constantly monitor the auditory environment. It’s a basic survival skill. For a neuro-typical person, the process of locating and selecting which sounds merit investigation is largely unconscious. Therefore, other pathways in the brain are free to perform other functions. On a conscious level, a neuro-typical person takes the auditory information the brain has unconsciously selected, listens to it, makes choices about which sounds have priority, and interprets these sounds accordingly.
This basic neuro-typical process feels quite foreign to me. I’m not sure how much unconscious locating and selecting I do with sound. Very little, it seems. No wonder I get so tired! Some of the other pathways in my brain can’t attend to other things because my unconscious doesn’t give them a break. Almost all my processing is conscious. It feels like the only unconscious responses I give to sound are to defend against it or to become very unnerved by it.
For me, all sounds come in at a very similar volume (and thus seem to have a similar level of importance), and when I attempt to locate sound, I often look in the wrong place. For instance, this morning, two guys were on our roof fixing our chimney, and they were having a conversation. I was outside, on the other side of the house, and I could hear some of the words. For about a half hour, I was sure that the sound was coming from the apartment on my right, when it was actually coming from my house on my left!
As for consciously attending to some sounds, but not to others—under most circumstances, I can’t. I just give my attention to all of them. Sometimes, when I listen to many people talking at once, I hear a jumble of words in which I can glean different phrases, but I can’t put the meanings together. At other times, the sound of many people talking just comes into my brain as undifferentiated noise.
I can prioritize and select sounds only in very structured environments. The purpose and the organization of the group have to be clear. For example, at my karate dojo, I gave most of my attention to my sensei, since she was my teacher and kept the group focused. In well-facilitated business meetings, with clear agendas, I was able set priorities about where to put my attention. At the store where I work, I was once able to attend to one conversation rather than another, but only because the space was very big and otherwise quiet.
Even in the most structured situation, however, I find that listening and keeping up with the flow of the conversation is very hard work.
How Our Ears Work: The Cochlear and Vestibular Systems
Remember in high school, when we learned about the inner ear? I remember the cochlea, which looks like a snail shell and controls hearing. But there is more to the story. The inner ear also consists of three semicircular canals, plus the utricle and the saccule, all of which constitute the vestibular system—the system that controls movement, balance, and spatial orientation. Not surprisingly, the cochlear and vestibular systems are intimately connected. Our bodies use the same (amazingly tiny) osseous labyrinth for both systems. In fact, the cochlear and vestibular systems use the same cranial nerve for sending information to the brain, and they exchange information all along their neurological pathways.
During my sensory assessment, it became clear that in addition to my difficulties filtering auditory input, I have deficits in each facet of my vestibular system: movement, balance, and spatial orientation. I have moderate dyspraxia when performing tasks that involve balance and moving my body through space. For instance, I had a lot of difficulty learning different forms in karate. I would have to draw them out visually and then memorize the pattern. My sensei would keep urging me to just feel each form in my body, but it was very difficult. Sometimes, she would even have us do katas with our eyes closed, just to help us feel the forms inside us. Unfortunately, these exercises generally resulted in my becoming frustrated and rooted to the floor. It was either that or become completely dizzy and fall down.
As for spatial orientation…What spatial orientation? If you need directions to anywhere in the world, just send me an email. If I tell you to go left, you should go right. If I tell you to head due east (wherever that is), you should head due west. It works like a charm (except for those random, statistically insignificant moments in which I am correct).
In the final analysis, the cochlear system, which allows us to hear, is also involved with spatial orientation. Hearing allows us to become oriented to the world around us, while the vestibular system gives us information about where we are on the ground. Since both hearing and spatial orientation are basic survival skills, it should come as no surprise that those of us with auditory and vestibular deficits feel pretty anxious and disoriented. A lot.
Isn’t it a relief to know that these feelings have their origins in our neurology, rather than in some deep, dark, psychological abyss? It is for me.
How Does Therapeutic Listening Work?
Since I have problems with my auditory and vestibular systems, I was very happy to learn that Therapeutic Listening works by engaging both.
At the moment, I am listening to the “modulated” CDs. I loved the Mozart for Modulation CD, and I’m currently working with a modulated Vivaldi CD. The people who create these CDs pass the music through a filter. Sometimes the higher frequencies are allowed to come through; sometimes the lower frequencies are allowed to come through. This type of modulation exercises both the auditory and vestibular portions of the inner ear. It also works the middle ear muscles that help control our ability to attend to our auditory environment and to organize sensory data. In general, these benefits should result in better overall sensory processing and self-modulation.
At present, I’m listening to my CD for 20-30 minutes, twice a day. I’ll do so for a minimum of 10-12 weeks. Some people continue the therapy for six months or more, and others make the therapy an ongoing part of their sensory diet. I hope that the therapy is effective for me, and that I’ll be able to include it in my sensory diet. I thrive on consistency, and besides, I really love the music.
Ultimately, the purposes of Therapeutic Listening are to help me use more than one sense at a time, to reduce auditory overload, and to improve the deficits in my vestibular system. To get used to multitasking, I engage in movement while listening to the CD. Generally, while I listen, I wash dishes, fold laundry, do my artwork, or work in the garden. When I’m not listening to the CD, I do activities that engage both my auditory system (such as singing) and my vestibular system (such as rocking, walking, or bicycling).
Walking, biking, and gardening also provide joint compression and reduce stress. I’ve even noticed myself toe-walking lately. Because Therapeutic Listening is hard work for my body, it’s important to have these kind of grounding activities.
Is There a Down Side to Therapeutic Listening?
At the moment, for me, there seems to be one. I’ve been getting a lot of migraines. Fortunately, I’ve figured out why. I’m resisting using more than one sense at a time. When I’m listening to the CD and making my lunch, the combination annoys me.
Okay, it doesn’t just annoy me. It makes me irritable. Being an Aspie, I’m just not wired to multitask. Using one sense at a time allows me to focus on a project and to enjoy the process. I get so much accomplished that way. I love it. And I’m beginning to love that part of myself that keeps working, and working, and won’t let go until something beautiful comes out of it.
But I also want to be in the world. Being at home gives me much needed solitude and respite, but I lose perspective when I’m alone for too many days on end. Besides, I find people very interesting, and I like them, and I like helping them. And then, of course, I would also like to re-engage basic survival skills, like buying my food at the grocery store, without it wiping me out for the rest of the day.
To be able to do these things, I have to learn to use more than one sense at a time. So, instead of long, measured strides, I’m taking baby steps. Baby steps! At my age. With my education. And my work experience. And my talents. And all those other things I’ve used to mask my utter confusion in life.
Baby steps. Okay. I’ll try it.
© 2009 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
