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When it comes to speaking, right side orientation (right ear dominance) is absolutely essential and thinking on the right is, if I may say so, the only way that man can become truly the master of himself. Increased audio vocal awareness on various levels is manifested in greater behavioural stability, diminished aggression, calmer and deeper sleep, improved appetite and a previously unknown sense of euphoria. the child becomes cheerful and glad to be alive.....Dr. Alfred Tomatis
Speech Delay
Speech delay is a delay in the development of the mechanisms that produce speech. The ears are our gateway to spoken communication; and speech delay can be helped by improving the functioning of the ears. In undertaking the course a person is awakened to a sound world that was previously unrecognised and therefore under-utilised.
Once it is understood that the ability to make sound and form words into language is under the domain of the ears, it is relatively easy to pin point what needs to be remedied.
Human development shows that language starts to expand as young infants are able to stand for longer periods of time. The ears give us the ability to move in any direction, without our ears it would be impossible to move our muscles. When the ears are not functioning optimally, sonic stimulation would not reach and activate the areas of the body which are needed for speech. In fact Tomatis says, that our whole body is our instrument that we must learn to play. Poor posture and muscle tone is rather like a slackened string on a musical instrument, without a certain degree of tautness that spans over the instrument, no vibrant clear sound can be produced.The information obtained by the vestibule of the ear concerning balance and movement is dispatched to the central nervous system and brain which in return send commands to the muscles to contract or relax to maintain balance.The vestibular nerve is also connected to the spinal column. This information system touches the anterior roots of the medulla oblongata, thereby controlling the whole body through the action of the labyrinth of the ears. When the muscles of breathing such as the diaphragm, intercostals muscles which expand the rib cage, and as all singers know every muscle in the torso (which is then supported by the muscles of the legs) are under activated, the resulting sound will be poor and weak. The muscles of our vocal apparatus such as the tongue, the epiglottis( for swallowing), the muscles that allow the vocal folds to open and close, the lips, are a perfectly designed machine which all depend on each other for good functioning.Our ability to speak is the human equivalent of broadcasting from our upright antenna – our body.
The ear and the voice are also connected. The 5th, 7th and 10th cranial nerve pairs which transmit commands to and from the brain, link the ear to the sound producing organs.
The fifth, seventh and tenth cranial nerves each interact with the muscles of our vocal apparatus.
The fifth cranial nerve allows us to chew, open and close our jaw and the muscle which moves the hammer bone in the ear.
The seventh cranial nerve controls all muscles of facial expression, except the eyelids. Importantly, it also controls the muscle which moves the stirrup bone of the ear. In connection with this nerve, it is observed that articulation problems develop when the there is poor coordination between the two muscles of the middle ear, often accompanied by grimacing or little facial expression.
The tenth cranial nerve, in many ways the most interesting of all these nerves due to its length and connections, is linked to the larynx and pharynx as well as the ear.
The therapy can help by improving sensory integration of the ears, both auditory apparatus and balance / movement system; thereby removing obstacles to clear and fluid speech. Right ear dominance is acquired by undertaking therapy allowing the person to process sonic information using the quickest most efficient route to the left hemisphere of the brain i.e the language centre.