Sound Therapy is a portable listening program based on discoveries by the ENT Dr Alfred Tomatis.
It uses classical music that has been filtered with specific algorithms to alter the frequencies in order to activate the auditory pathways. The program has been used for several decades to address a range of language, learning and hearing issues (https://tomatisassociation.org). While the original, clinic-based Tomatis method focussed mainly on children and learning difficulties, the portable version offered by Sound Therapy International has expanded the field to affectively address adult hearing difficulties, including tinnitus, plus anxiety, stress and insomnia. It has been found particularly effective for difficulty hearing in noisy rooms, known as the “Cocktail Party Syndrome” (Joudry 2001).
A survey was sent to a thousand of our experienced listeners in August to ask if they had had benefits from Sound Therapy specific to Covid. Of those who had reactions to Covid or the vaccines, and used Sound Therapy during that period, 86% reported noticeable benefits in at least one area.
Symptoms that were lessened by Sound Therapy included:
Fatigue, Tinnitus, Dizziness, Ear Pain, Blocked Ears, Headache, Depression and Anxiety, Changes in Blood Pressure, Brain fog, Ear Pain, Blocked Ears, Sleep, Calming the nerves, and Swollen Neck and Lymph Glands. The following table shows the percentage of total respondents who experienced a benefit in each symptom type.
Indications for Long Covid
According to ACNEM (Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine) data gathered in recent months is indicating that long Covid is a syndrome affecting 20% of the population. The most prevalent symptoms of long Covid are fatigue and brain fog, with tinnitus also being a frequently reported impact. Sound Therapy has been found to help with all of these conditions (Joudry 2201, Richards, 2004) indicating that it could be a helpful treatment for Covid.
A sample of comments from some of our respondents is given below.
Participant 1
Reason for using Sound Therapy: Hearing loss and tinnitus following Covid
Impact of Covid vaccines: Mild fatigue, mild hearing loss, severe tinnitus, mild dizziness, moderate ear pain, mild blocked ears, mild headaches, mild sinus, extreme depression /anxiety.
Impact of Covid: Mild fatigue, extreme hearing loss, severe tinnitus, mild dizziness, moderate ear pain, moderate blocked ears, moderate headaches, moderate depression/anxiety.
Covid related symptoms Sound Therapy helped with: Fatigue, Tinnitus, Dizziness, Ear Pain, Blocked Ears, Headache, Brain fog Depression / Anxiety.
Comments on How Sound Therapy helped: Covid gave me pulsatile tinnitus at time of covid. Constantly for 4 months until I woke and hearing was completely gone. I had tingling in face and arm and the tinnitus changed to regular. I started the program to help with the hearing loss and tinnitus. The hearing hasn’t returned, but the tinnitus is definitely quieter and less noticeable day to day. I have no anxiety, more energy, less brain fog, I don’t get upset at the trivial things anymore and I am generally happier.
Participant 2
Reason for using Sound Therapy: Dizziness and some tinnitus
Covid related Symptoms Sound Therapy helped with: Fatigue, Changes in Blood Pressure, Depression / Anxiety
Comments on how Sound Therapy helped: Sound Therapy gives me great pleasure. It is like a gift every day. I just love it. I am more relaxed and my blood pressure has lessened and I sleep through the night. It is like a present every day.
Participant 3
Reason for using Sound Therapy: Tinnitus and dysfunction of the tube running from my nose and ear. Dizziness and loss of hearing. Tired and foggy brain.
Impact of Covid vaccines: Severe fatigue and hearing loss, extreme tinnitus, severe dizziness, moderate ear pain, severe blocked ears, mild headaches, extreme sinus, moderate heart complications, severe depression/anxiety.
Comments on how Sound Therapy helped: I started after my vaccines and feel back to normal since using sound therapy. Sound therapy has cleared the congestion, dizziness and my tinnitus has stopped. I developed tinnitus when my family had covid. I do not know if I have had it but felt very tired and run down. I no longer feel tired during the day and my hearing loss is so much better. I feel so relaxed and if I don’t use it for a day or so I actually feel I need it. I no longer have foggy brain.
Participant 4
Reason for using Sound Therapy: Tinnitus
Impact of Covid: Severe fatigue, Severe tinnitus, mild dizziness and ear pain, moderate blocked ears, moderate depression/anxiety
Comments on how Sound Therapy helped: I haven't noticed any noticeable changes are yet.
Participant 5
Impact of Covid: Moderate fatigue, mild blocked ears, severe headaches, moderate sinus, mild depression/anxiety
Covid related symptoms Sound Therapy helped with: Fatigue, Ear Pain, Blocked Ears, Headache, Depression and/or Anxiety
Comments on how Sound Therapy helped: It helped me to sleep and manage my stress during the period of having Covid
Participant 6
Reasons for using Sound Therapy: Vertigo and balance problems
Impact of Sound Therapy: Sleep was much better, didn't need as many hours of sleep, feeling full of energy the next day and no dizziness problems.
Impact of Covid vaccines: Mild fatigue, Moderate Headache
Impact of Covid: Extreme fatigue, extreme blocked ears, extreme headaches, extreme sinus, mild depression/anxiety
Comments on how Sound Therapy helped: Sound Therapy helped me get to sleep and calm down my nervous system. I was able to start feeling myself by the 15th/16th day of having Covid. My voice also came back at that time as well.
Participant 7
Reasons for using Sound Therapy: Slight tinnitus, Cocktail Party Syndrome and diminished hearing, brain fog
Impact of Sound Therapy: Corrected- Tinnitus and CPS, helped with Hearing and brain fog
Impact of Covid vaccines: Severe fatigue, mild dizziness, severe swollen neck and lymph glands, moderate headaches, mild changes in blood pressure
Covid related symptoms Sound Therapy helped with: Swollen Neck - Lymph Glands, Headache
Conclusions
Although more in depth research is needed, these results indicate that Sound Therapy can be very beneficial for the most prevalent symptoms resulting from the vaccines and from having Covid. Just as there is a wide variety of reactions to both the vaccines and to Covid infections, there is a wide variety of results from Sound Therapy. However, there were common themes in the data indicating frequent results for fatigue and sleep, depression and anxiety plus a range of ear related issues including tinnitus, hearing difficulties, blocked ears, ear pain, or dizziness, plus problems with blood pressure, swollen glands and brain fog.
Based on several decades of previous research and clinical practice, our understanding of how Sound Therapy assists these conditions is that it provides comprehensive rehabilitation to the hearing system, which in turn enhances the performance and tranquillity of the nervous system (Porges, 2011).
There are several mechanisms which enable these changes to take place. The presentation of complex, filtered sound with alternating frequencies causes a gymnastic effect in the middle ear, which in turn propels a stimulus throughout the hearing pathways, reactivating the inner ear, the many processing stations along the auditory nerve and several different brain centres associated with auditory processing (Swain 2007).
Due to the high level of integration between the hearing system and the cranial nerves, in particular the vagal nerve (Porges, 2011), the benefits of this therapy extend to the person’s adaptation to stress and their resilience in responding to the impacts of viral load or other foreign substances entering the body.
Contact: www.mysoundtherapy.com
Rafaele Joudry: rafaelejoudry@mysoundtherapy.com
REFERENCES
- Joudry, Patricia, and Joudry, Rafaele, Sound Therapy: Music to Recharge Your Brain, Sound Therapy International Pty Ltd, Sydney 2001.
- Richards, G., Richards, P.J., & Joudry, R. “The Therapeutic Effects Of High Band Pass Classical Music And Antioxidant Supplements.” Presented to Australian Audiological Society Conference Brisbane 2004.
- Porges, S., The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-3937-0700-7.
- Swain, D. R. (2007) The Effects of The Tomatis Method of Auditory Stimulation on Auditory Processing Disorder: A Summary of Findings, International Journal of Listening, Vol. 21, Number 2, 2007.
