Information sheet

Dyslexia & Sound Therapy

Article Summary

Dyslexia is a particular language based processing problem which interferes with many communication and learning capabilities. It affects both the visual and auditory processing of letters and words.
Word and letter reversals are a common feature, also known as ‘linear sequential processing problems’. This can cause the learner to have difficulty interpreting visual symbols, so spelling and reading can be affected, as well as pronunciation of complex words.
Dr Tomatis’s discovery that right ear dominance makes language processing easier is key to understanding how Sound Therapy works for dyslexia. Sound Therapy targets retraining to the right ear, which has been found to enhance language processing throughout the whole brain.
Right ear training can help dyslexic children to overcome the basic physical hurdles that make learning so much more difficult for them.

The problem

Dyslexia is a language-based learning difficulty of neurological origin. It typically includes:

Difficulty with reading, writing or spelling
Letter reversals or word reversals
Visual processing difficulty
Auditory processing difficulty
Linear processing difficulty
Poor short term memory
Spatial confusion
Poor organization

Listening, and associated auditory processing, are the most basic skills required for verbal communication. A weakness in listening ability may hinder the development of a strong language base, leading to problems when the child encounters the more complex linguistic tasks of writing and reading. If the sounds of speech have not been accurately heard, they cannot be accurately conveyed by symbols.

The brain and language

The left hemisphere of the brain is the main centre for processing language. Because the right ear communicates most directly with the left hemisphere, the right ear must take a leading role in listening in order for speech sounds to reach the brain efficiently.

Dr Tomatis posited that children with dyslexia have not achieved right ear dominance. In children with no dominant ear preference, sounds reach the brain at different speeds, leading to the order in which they hear sounds becoming jumbled. This accounts for errors of reversal, such as writing ‘was’ as ‘saw’ or pronouncing “spaghetti” as “pisghetti”.

How Sound Therapy may help

Balance between the two brain hemispheres is of fundamental importance in overcoming dyslexia. Both hemispheres play a role in processing language, but the roles they play are different. The eye must combine with the power and quality of the ear to make sense of the written sounds. This co-ordination happens easily when the left hemisphere deals primarily with audition and the right hemisphere deals primarily with vision. In dyslexia, the route which allows for phonic analysis has been damaged. Sound Therapy may help to restore the functioning of this route.

Sound Therapy stimulates the ear, encouraging it to receive and interpret sound in an efficient manner. The increased high frequency stimulation of the right ear, integral to the specially filtered Sound Therapy recordings, also works to train the right ear to become the dominant ear.

Music is a highly organised series of sounds that the ear must learn to analyse, and is an excellent method for a child to learn how to perceive sounds in an organised fashion – or in other words, to listen.

Immediate benefits

Due to repeated failures or mediocre results, children with dyslexia often suffer from feelings of inferiority. Sound Therapy can offer immediate emotional relief because it is easy and pleasant to use, and often brings immediate relief to the child’s neurological processing problems. Once the child begins to receive and interpret sounds accurately and easily, ability and motivation to communicate is greatly increased, quickly transforming the problem learner into a receptive and motivated learner.

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