There are many reasons why people decide to use The Listening Program^® .  Most of those reasons relate to the difficulties that individuals have when auditory processing skills are weak or are less than they could be.  The most obvious ones are having academic struggles, difficulties with speech and communications, and problems remembering what we hear.  But it's not common knowledge that auditory skills relate to a great many other areas of our lives.  This page gives some explanation of the relationships of auditory skills to many other life functions.

First, however, it is important to recognize the relationship between sensory abilities and the brain.  We take in information through our senses:  seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.   Unless the correct actions take place in the brain, we are not able to perceive and properly make use of the information from our senses.

Over forty years ago, Dr. Alfred Tomatis, made a series of groundbreaking discoveries about the role of the ear and hearing in brain development and organization.  He showed that our auditory nerve is fundamental to human neurology; it helps to regulate not only balance and spatial orientation, but also even vision and our tactile senses.

Whatever the reasons for auditory processing deficits: ear infections, brain injury, genetic factors, etc., if there is a time during critical developmental stages when the auditory stimuli doesn't come in or can't come in, the brain cells that normally process hearing do not learn how to do so.  The result is a deficit in the brain's ability to process auditory information.

Why does The Listening Program^®  help?

The Listening Program^®  uses advantages of the plasticity factor, a term that scientists use to describe the brain's amazing ability to constantly change its structure and function in response to experiences coming in from the outside.¹ Listening to the CDs in The Listening Program^®  literally exercises and tones tiny muscles in the ear and helps build stronger multi-sensory pathways in the brain.  The brain receives especially rich auditory stimulation, and its ability to process sound improves.

The Listening Program^®  is designed to help balance, strengthen, and restore our ability to listen to and process sounds across the full auditory spectrum, from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This can result in striking improvements across the human continuum, from academic performance to emotional balance

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Cognitive Training Programs to Enhance Auditory Processing Skills

Captains Log-Module 1: Attention Skills: Developmental develops the ability to attend and concentrate.  

1. Auditory Discrimination/Rhythm enhances attention and concentration skills and improves immediate retention, recall and discrimination of auditory patterns. This program requires the client to attend to two discrete auditory rhythmic patterns, compare them and decide whether they are the same or different.

2. Auditory Discrimination/Tones improves attention and concentration skills involving immediate retention, recall and discrimination of non-verbal auditory stimuli. This program requires the client to attend to two discrete auditory patterns of tones, compare them and decide whether they are the same or different.

SoundSmart_TM-

BrainTrain is very pleased to introduce a new version of SoundSmart.

Individuals of all ages with cognitive deficits due to brain injury, auditory processing disorders, ADHD, learning disabilities, or developmental disabilities will enjoy and benefit from this talking Cognitive Training Software to help improve...

Working Memory                      Listening Skills

Phonemic Awareness             Self-control

Following Directions               Mental Processing Speed

These brain-training exercises actually speak to the user in a realistic human voice, making him feel as though he is playing with a real person who encourages, praises and challenges him to do his best. SoundSmart automatically adapts its presentation to the age of the “player” — novel feedback and entertaining encouragement for kids, colorful but not childish presentation for adults.

Program Descriptions

SoundSmart™  consists of the following modules:

SoundSmart Attention Coach™ (beginner, intermediate and advanced levels) provides drill and practice in following spoken instructions, which gradually become increasingly complex. The Speed, Patience and Listening Tracks can be used to help shape behavioral self-control as well as listening skills. When the Beginner level is set for children, the program may also be used as an entertaining and useful alphabet teaching game.

SoundSmart Math & Memory Coach™ is designed so that for children, each of its levels (A, 1-4) addresses the corresponding grade level of the elementary school math curriculum, grades K through 4. As is the case with all of the SoundSmart programs, the Math & Memory coach automatically adapts its presentation to the age of the user and may be used with adults as well as children. Using the computer’s spoken instructions, the programs help develop working memory, mental math skills, and number concepts. The Math & Memory Coach may be used to provide drill and practice in elementary math skills, or the trainer may select options to improve speed, self-control, patience, or auditory processing.

SoundSmart Sound Discrimination Coach™ works to improve listening skills in people with language and reading problems due to learning disabilities, central auditory processing disorder or brain injury. Using all natural speech, this program computerizes time-tested traditional methods used by speech language professionals to improve phonemic awareness. The program challenges the user with distractions, distortions in speech, background sounds and changes in pitch in order to train him or her to listen well under all types of conditions.

Home version available through Incredible Horizons Home products

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Brain Builder

See significant, lasting changes in auditory and visual sequential processing skills and short-term memory. Psychologists and educators call it "sequential processing." It's essential to every mental process, including every level of verbal communication. Better sequential processing enables us to take in more of what there is to see and hear. It determines how quickly and clearly we can grasp concepts with 3 or 5 or 7 components. And it determines how effectively we can express ourselves to others. If sequential processing capacity is limited, it's a little like not having enough RAM in your computer. Some things work just fine. Others work, but s-l-o-w-l-y, or more crudely. And certain things become impossible, resulting in frustration.

A tool for strengthening core mental capacities

Fast, simple, easy-to-use software helps you get powerful results in as little as 10 minutes per day. With Brain Builder, you play up to 7 different 2-3 minute activities every day. Brain Builder automatically sets and adjusts the level of difficulty to help you succeed and challenge you to improve, providing feedback every step of the way.

What kind of intelligence will the 21st Century require? The rate at which we need to process information in today's high-speed, information-packed, constantly changing competitive environment can be overwhelming. Making matters worse, many children and adults must work unusually hard to do normal tasks, due to processing inefficiencies

The principle behind Brain Builder is exercise. The more you exercise your brain's fundamental processing capacities, the stronger, more efficient and more organized they become. As the pathways of your neural network proliferate and deepen, so too will your ability to absorb and process information quickly and easily. 

The result is clearer, quicker thinking, less confusion and better communication. You'll have less need to reread information or hear it repeated, and faster, more accurate responses to real-life or academic problems. Naturally, this means less stress, higher self-esteem, and greater satisfaction and all-around success in life. 

Brain Builder's seven Neurodevelopmental exercises are tuned to the precise frequency, intensity, and duration that best stimulates higher brain function, opens the mind, and trains it to learn more effectively. 

There are three (3) visual activities, three (3) auditory activities, and one (1) intensity activity. The six core activities all involve seeing or hearing, and then recalling, a series of numbers. This skill is often measured by standardized tests, where it is called "digit span." 

In Brain Builder, digit span is not just tested, but exercised. There are six separate activities that, over time, have been shown to build sequential processing capacities in people at all levels. With regular use of Brain Builder, you can gradually increase the number or "span" of digits, or numbers, that you can store and retrieve. This increases your short-term memory capacity. 

By doing these exercises, you increase the number of pieces of information that you can take in sequentially, hold, process, and recall. Better memory is just the first level of benefit you will notice. Building digit span means increasing the number of abstractions you can keep in mind when understanding and processing language, and the ability to think sequentially in any life situation. If you can grasp the relationship of more factors that are interacting in a given situation you may be able to solve problems successfully that would otherwise be too complex to comprehend. 

APPLICATIONS

• For children and adults at home, school and the office.
• Increase short-term memory capacity
• Improve auditory and visual sequential processing 
• Raise cognitive processing speed 
• Develop visualization and conceptualization skills 
• Improve attention and concentration 
• Enhance listening, reading and self-expression 
• Increase mental efficiency and organization
• Increase confidence through reduced confusion   
• Enhance communication and social interactions
• Support growth in emotional intelligence