Speech Difficulties and Sound Therapy

Most speech difficulties are caused by some interference or distortion in auditory reception (unless there is a deformity in the vocal apparatus); hearing our own voice is a source of constant feedback while we are speaking, and if there is any confusion in the sequence of received sounds, it will cause confusion in the output of speech. The results can be:

• substitutions of one sound for another,
• stumbling over words, or
• a flat and toneless voice.

Although the hearing may test as normal, the relaying of verbal information to the brain may be impaired. Most people use the left hemisphere of the brain as the primary integrating centre for language. Some studies have shown that stutterers process language primarily in the right hemisphere or a mixture of the two. The right hemisphere is less efficient for processing auditory information, so this results in problems in the timing of speech output.

Speech difficulties frequently lead to problems in other areas where language is used, such as reading and writing. The element which is the basis for all these skills is the ability to hear and process sound accurately.

Why Sound Therapy can help speech impediments

Dr Tomatis made an important discovery about the relatedness of the ear to the voice: he established that the larynx emits only those harmonics that the ear hears.

A lack of tone in the voice indicates a lack of tone in the hearing. By exercising the ear muscles and stimulating the receptor cells in the inner ear, Sound Therapy may fine tune the hearing and restore the ability to hear missing frequencies.

Sound Therapy continually plays more sound into the right ear. The right ear connects to the left hemisphere of the brain, so when the right ear becomes dominant, the language function naturally switches to the left hemisphere, correcting reversed or mixed laterality.

What Sound Therapy has achieved with speech issues

Dr Tomatis worked with a group of 74 stutterers and discovered that all of them had difficulty hearing from the right ear. When he educated them to use the right ear alone, all of them began to speak correctly.

Children with other types of speech difficulties have responded similarly to the treatment. Not only does their speech improve but their behaviour changes. They become more confident, more dynamic and more eager to talk and communicate. Parents also report improvements in reading and the use of written language.

Tips for using Sound Therapy for speech problems

Your child should be encouraged to listen to the tapes / CDs for 30 - 60 minute each day. If it is possible for your child to listen for longer than this each day, that will be even more beneficial. Regular daily listening is essential for the right ear dominance to be achieved.

The "Let's Recite" tape / CD in the Family Kit is good to use for children with speech difficulties, as it gives them the opportunity to repeat what is said and integrate their speaking with their new experience of listening.

Another good exercise for children with any form of speech difficulty is speaking into a microphone while monitoring their voice through the right ear. There are two ways to do this:

• Use a personal cassette player with a microphone and wear only the right headphone, or to achieve it without using equipment,
• Simply close off the right ear with fingers or an ear plug. This increases the volume of the child's own voice in the right ear.

Your child can speak, sing, read or make any vocal sounds. This exercise can be done for some time each day in conjunction with the listening.