Yesterday our team at Advanced Brain Technologies announced the publication of a peer reviewed journal article that discusses the unique properties of the acoustically modified music of The Listening Program®. The article also includes a review of the research on the effectiveness in its use for significant improvements in children’s listening, auditory processing, educational abilities, and as treatment to reduce auditory hypersensitivity.
Published in Music and Medicine an interdisciplinary journal, the article Use of Acoustically Modified Music to Reduce Auditory Hypersensitivity in Children appears in Vol 11, No 1 (2019) is authored by Jay R. Lucker, Professor of Communication Sciences at Howard University and myself.
Some children cannot tolerate sounds so their systems “shut down” and stop taking in what they hear, or they fight not to listen or run away from listening situations. Research has demonstrated that the underlying problem is not with the children’s auditory systems, but with the connections between the auditory system (listening) and the emotional system leading the children to have over sensitivities to sound and respond with negative emotional reactions when listening.
One treatment which is found effective in helping children with hypersensitive hearing feel safe and comfortable, is the use of specially recorded and acoustically modified music and sound, known as The Listening Program (TLP), which we produce at Advanced Brain Technologies. The recorded music and sounds are carefully chosen and systematically produced to enhance positive emotional and calming reactions during listening. The listening method uses specially recorded instrumental music. The music is acoustically modified to lead the child to react less negatively to sounds and, thus, reduces the child’s hypersensitivity while opening the auditory system to listen more effectively. The article provides a full description of this music listening therapy method which has been used successfully for 20 years.
Following a regiment of daily listening to the TLP music protocol for 15- 30 minutes through headphones, research has demonstrated significant improvements in listening (called auditory processing) and educational performance as noted by greater focusing and listening in the classroom, improvements in educational performance on standardized measures, and greater participation in educational activities.
The Listening Program offers a safe, enjoyable and effective solution for children and adults who exhibit hypersensitivities to sound including those on the autism spectrum, with sensory processing issues, concussions and more. This paper provides detailed information to help the reader understand how the music is created to have the specific effects it does, and to appreciate that TLP is more than music, and how this neuroscience-based music listening therapy uniquely stands apart from other audio-based methods.
The Listening Program is available exclusively through Advanced Brain Technologies and our international network of thousands of trained providers; occupational therapists, audiologists, physicians, speech and language pathologists, psychologists, other clinicians and educators in schools, hospitals, clinics, companies, the military and offering home-based interventions throughout the world. TLP programs are available for use on digital music players and as a subscription-based music streaming service for mobile devices.
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