Research and Media Articles
A Non-pharmaceutical Treatment for ADD
Sound Therapy in the Treatment of Dyslexia,
ADD/ADHD, Delayed Speech, and Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Today more and more parents are looking for non pharmaceutical
treatments for the increasing levels of learning difficulties affecting
their children. Creating a toxin free environment is of vital
importance so that growing children do not become overloaded with
chemicals that the liver cannot process. Early exposure to chemicals is
being linked to developmental delays and learning disorders.
In addition to good nutrition and assistance with detoxification, a
very important aspect of treatment, too often overlooked by learning
difficulty specialists is treatment through auditory retraining, or
Sound Therapy. This treatment is now available as a home based
therapeutic listening program which assists listening, brain function
and language development. Evidence points to the potential benefit of
Sound Therapy in counteracting today’s environmental assaults on the
developing child. Dr Veira Scheibner, who is well known for her
extensive research in the vaccination field, suggests that Sound
Therapy is an important treatment to assist the child’s brain to
recover from the damage caused by vaccination or other environmental
toxins.
Why the ear
Dr Tomatis the ear specialist and originator of Sound Therapy said “We
read with our ears.” This theory is founded upon the fact that the ear
is the only primary sense organ which is registered at all three levels
of the brain, the brain stem, mid brain and cortex. In contrast the
visual sense is seated only in the cortex. It is for this reason that
Tomatis believed that perceptual problems often need to be addressed
through the auditory function.
Julia, Dive, a tutor specialising in Sound Therapy explains the
importance of listening when a child is learning to read: “if children
can’t hear the sounds, if they can’t relate a sound to the symbol, then
they have trouble having it register in their head and then relating
that sound again to that symbol next time they see it. They need to
able to understand, see the letter, hear the letter and reproduce the
sound of that letter next time they see it. And then they need to be
able to blend that letter in with all the other letters that form a
word and be able to reproduce that sound again. And Sound Therapy, I
think actually helps that process of what happens after the sound goes
into the head and then where it goes inside your brain and what your
brain does with it and how it spits it back out again at the other
side.”
For this complex decoding process to occur, millions of brain
connections are needed. Susan Greenfield, a leading educator on the
human brain, explains that axons and dendrites, the tiny filaments
which enable communication between the neurones, are created in
response to stimulation of the brain. This stimulus could simply be
from thinking about something of interest, or it could be a sound,
particularly a high frequency sound. Dr Alfred Tomatis who developed
the Sound Therapy program in the 1950s, made crucial discoveries on the
neurological and psychological fronts. These included the fact that the
brain needs a concentrated input of high frequency sound in order to
function at maximum potential, and that the baby’s brain develops much
of its basic structure from hearing language while still in utero. The
growing foetus actually hears the mothers voice.
Dr Veira Scheibner explains that Sound Therapy creates new brain
connections, restoring some of the damage done by vaccination. Once the
nutritional and detoxification aspects have been addressed, many
practitioners believe Sound Therapy is an important tool for restoring
neurological functioning.
Other leading specialists have reached the same conclusions as Tomatis
about the importance of the ear in learning. Dr Levinson, author of
Smart but Feeling Dumb has specialised in the clinical treatment of
dyslexia and ADD for several decades and, like Tomatis, concludes that
these problems are somehow related to the ear. His approach, however,
is to treat the ear with pharmaceutical remedies, while Dr Tomatis
treated it with sound.
Conditions treated
successfully with Sound Therapy
Dyslexia. Word reversal, one of the typical symptoms of dyslexia, is
according to Tomatis’s theory, linked to left ear dominance. Sound
Therapy encourages right ear dominance, thereby improving the
efficiency of the brain in delivering sounds directly to the left
hemisphere which is primarily responsible for language.
ADD/ADHD Sound Therapy improves attention by increasing high frequency
perception, processing speed, and the ability to inhibit action and
therefore decide on the appropriateness of an action before jumping in.
Autism is typified by hyperacusis or phonophobia (sensitivity to or
fear of loud sounds.). Sound Therapy increases the resilience of the
ear in accommodating the full range of frequencies. It also improves
language integration and increases the ability for meaningful
communication.
Speech problems such as stuttering and delayed speech development are
frequently remedied by Sound Therapy. If there have been ear problems
or emotional problems at a crucial stage of development, neural
patterning may be interrupted. Sound Therapy stimulates the process of
speech patterning and allows listeners to catch up with speech
development.
Down’s syndrome. Research in recent years has shown that hearing
problems play a major role in the disabilities experienced by children
with Down’s syndrome. As both hearing and auditory processing are
improved, children with Down’s syndrome show significant social and
learning improvements.
Pre natal development. Dr Tomatis investigated the role of sound in the
unborn foetus and demonstrated that much of the neuronal patterning of
the brain is laid down as a result of the child listening to its
mother’s voice while in the womb. When the mother listens to high
frequencies, her voice is stimulated, having a beneficial effect on the
developing foetus.
Inner ear dysfunction
The ear has been described as “the Rome of the body,” because so many
of the cranial nerves are linked to a some part of the ear. The
auditory nerve has branches surrounding the ocular motor nerve,
indicating its control of eye tracking. Dr Levinson says, “The inner
ear system has been proven to direct and guide our eyes and tracking
responses automatically during the reading process.”
Through thousands of case studies Levinson came to the realisation that
in every case of dyslexia the unifying factor was inner ear
dysfunction. He realised that dyslexia affects every aspect of ones
life, auditory and visual processing as well as motor coordination and
balance, both waking and sleeping. Hence, he says: “I came to view the
inner-ear system as a fine-tuner for the entire sensory input and motor
output system.” This led to understanding of the role of the
cerebellum, which could be seen as the grand central station linking
the local exchange of the inner ear to the final destination of the
cortex.
The cerebellum
The cerebellum plays a significant role in sensory coordination, both
visual and auditory, and has been dubbed by Susan Greenfield the
‘autopilot of the brain.’ Levinson believes that any learning
difficulty associated with auditory processing problems is linked to
the cerebellum.
The following graphic description of the cerebellum and its vital
gate-keeping role in the human body is from a Scientific American
article by R. Snider. With a group of outstanding neurophysiologists he
reached these conclusions after completing a series of animal
experiments.
“In the back of our skulls, perched upon the brain stem is a baseball
sized, bean-bag shaped lump of grey and white brain tissue. This is the
cerebellum, the “lesser brain.” In contrast to the cerebrum, where men
have sought and found the centres of so many vital mental activities,
the cerebellum remains a region of subtle and tantalising mystery, its
function hidden from investigators….Its elusive signals have begun to
tell us that, while the cerebellum itself directs no body functions, it
operates as monitor and coordinator of the brain’s other centres and as
mediator between them and the body…”
Many other studies have corroborated the evidence for the inner ear
dysfunction theory. When numerous dyslexics tested at four leading
hospitals with electronystagmography (ENG), a special physiological
inner-ear testing method, 90% showed definite evidence of inner-ear
dysfunction.
Correspondence with
Tomatis’s views
Levinson analysed 35,000 dyslexics, the largest sample ever he claims.
He paid great and detailed attention to all symptoms he observed, and
eventually wove the symptoms together into a new understanding of
dyslexia. His conclusion was the same as Dr Tomatis’s, that dyslexia is
caused by an inner ear dysfunction, which can affect capabilities in
any or all of the following areas.
Reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, memory, direction, time,
speech, hyperactivity, overactivity, impulsiveness, concentration and
distractibility, ADD ADHD, phobias and related mental behavioural
disorders, balance and coordination.
ADD ADHD
Levinson found that ninety percent of children diagnosed with ADD/ ADHD
have inner ear related problems similar to dyslexics. He therefore
concludes that both dyslexia and ADD originate from the same cause, but
have been slightly differently defined leading to different diagnoses.
However, both have proved responsive to treatment with Sound Therapy,
corroborating both Levinson and Tomatis’s view that finely tuned ear
function is fundamental to learning.
Pre-Natal Listening
Dr Tomatis, made significant discoveries about the role of the ear and
sound in the prenatal development of the brain. Sound is the first
sense to develop fully in the womb. The foetus's ear is ready to
perceive sound at four and a half months. The baby listens to its
mother's heartbeat, respiration and digestive sounds. Dr.Tomatis
believes that the baby can also hear the mother's voice and becomes
familiar with this sound before birth.
The sound of the mother's voice with its familiar tone and rhythm is
what provides continuity between the prenatal and post-natal worlds.
The infant is particularly accustomed to the high frequency sounds of
the voice as heard in the womb, and therefore is immediately reassured
when presented with high frequency sounds filtered to a similar level.
When the mother listens to Sound Therapy during her pregnancy, the
benefits she receives are passed on to the infant. The effects of
listening for the mother are a soothing of her whole system and a
stimulation to the cortex of the brain from the high frequency sound.
The hormonal shift experienced by the mother at birth sometimes causes
post natal depression. This can be greatly alleviated by the continued
use of Sound Therapy after giving birth, as well as by herbal treatment
to balance the hormones.
Dyslexia
The left hemisphere of the brain is the main center for processing
language. In order for speech sounds to reach the brain efficiently the
right ear must take a leading role in listening, because the right ear
communicates most directly with the left brain hemisphere.
Dr. Tomatis contends that children with dyslexia have failed to achieve
right ear dominance and that therefore the order in which they hear
sound becomes jumbled. The balance between the two hemispheres of the
brain 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 the 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
restores the functioning of this route and eliminates the cause of the
problem.
Sound Therapy stimulates and exercises the ear, teaching it to receive
and interpret sound in an efficient manner. Music is a highly organised
series of sounds that the ear has to analyse. Therefore, listening to
music is an excellent way for a child to learn how to perceive sounds
in an organised fashion, or in other words, to listen. The higher
volume of sound to the right ear, which is built into all Sound Therapy
recordings, means that the right ear is educated to be the directing
ear. When this right ear dominance is achieved, the problem of reversal
will frequently disappear.
Autism spectrum disorders
Many children with autism spectrum disorders exhibit extreme
sensitivity to noise. Some frequencies are actually painful for them to
hear. Dr. Tomatis suggests that in order to shut out painful sounds or
other unwanted stimuli the child closes down the hearing mechanism so
that certain sounds cannot penetrate the consciousness. On a
physiological level, this closing off of the ear is achieved by a
relaxation of the muscles of the middle ear. Over time, these muscles
lose their tonicity. Sounds are then imprecisely perceived and as a
result incorrectly analysed.
Sound Therapy offers a child with autism the opportunity to re-open the
listening capacity. The fluctuating sounds produced by the Electronic
Ear gradually exercise and tone the ear muscles, teaching the ear to
respond to and recognise the full range of frequencies. As this
happens, communication takes on new meanings and the child begins to
respond where before he or she was unreachable.
Sound Therapy recreates the pre-birth experience of audition and
enables emotional contact to be made first with the mother and then
with other people.
Children with autism respond to Sound Therapy by showing a greater
interest in making contact and communicating with the people around
them. Interactions with their family members become more affectionate
and appropriate. There is often increased eye contact and the children
have a longer attention span.
Attention Deficit Disorder
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are believed to be caused by a deficiency
in the transmission system which relays messages between cells in
various parts of the brain.
The majority of children with ADD/ADHD have auditory reception
problems. Although they can hear they cannot make sense of what they
hear, because the ear and the brain are not working efficiently to
process the sound. They have difficulty tuning out unwanted input and
focusing on selected sounds.
It is this indiscriminate reception of auditory input which leads to
the inability to concentrate on a selected topic for any length of
time. Where hyperactivity is part of the child’s condition, there are
additional problems of impulsiveness, behavioural problems and poor
social skills.
Sound Therapy provides this rehabilitation for the ear and re-organises
the auditory transmission in the brain. This process reduces stress and
tension in the whole nervous system as the child becomes able to attend
to a chosen stimulus instead of being constantly distracted by every
sound in the environment.
Very dramatic results can be achieved with Sound Therapy for children
with ADD/ADHD. The first change to be observed will be a marked
decrease in activity (for overactive children) while under active
children will become more energised. As the listening discrimination is
retrained, memory and concentration improves so that learning can be
achieved with a great deal less effort. Sleep and appetite problems are
resolved as the whole system becomes calmer and less erratic. The
behavioural difficulties, such as impulsiveness and aggression, are now
brought down to a manageable level. The child is now able to pay
attention in class and to understand and follow instructions and is
motivated to communicate and learn.
Speech Problems
Unless there is a deformity in the vocal apparatus, most speech
difficulties are caused by some interference or distortion in auditory
reception. Although the hearing may test as normal, the relaying of
verbal information to the brain may be impaired. Hearing your own voice
is a source of constant feedback while speaking and any confusion in
the sequence of received sounds can cause confusion in speech output.
The results can be substitutions of one sound for another, stumbling
over words or a flat and toneless voice.
Most people use the left hemisphere of the brain as the primary
integrating centre for language. Some studies have shown that
stutterers process language primarily in the right hemisphere or a
mixture of the two. The right hemisphere is less efficient for
processing auditory information, so the result is problems in the
timing of speech output such as stuttering.
Speech difficulties frequently lead to problems in other areas where
language is used, such as reading and writing. The element which is the
basis for all these skills is the ability to hear and process sound
accurately.
Dr. Tomatis made an important discovery about the relatedness of the
ear to the voice. He established that the larynx emits only those
harmonics that the ear hears. A lack of tone in the voice indicates a
lack of tone in the hearing. Sound Therapy fine tunes the hearing and
restores the ability to hear missing frequencies.
Sound Therapy is flexible,
portable, easy and fun
Listening can be done during sleep, play, homework or travel. If the
child wishes to listen at school, parents can ask for the consent of
the teacher. This will likely be granted, as listening in the classroom
will often help the child to concentrate and perform better.
Sound Therapy is used on a
personal cassette player with headphones
The total listening time required for most children to receive the full
benefit from the program is approximately 100 hours. Most children have
an instinctive response to the acoustic stimulation of Sound Therapy
and will take to the listening keenly.
Close to two hundred practitioners in Australia now recommend the
method. However, the portable program means that parents can use Sound
Therapy at home without needing to see a practitioner.
In its portable form, Sound Therapy is affordable, portable, easy,
harmless and requires no special testing or supervision.
For more information on Sound Therapy readers are referred to the book:
Why Aren’t I Learning? : Listening is the Key to Overcoming Learning
Difficulties, by Rafaele Joudry
This can be obtained through your local bookstore or from Sound Therapy
International Pty Ltd. Phone Australia 02 4234-4534 or 1300 55 77 96
info@soundthrapyinternational.com
www.soundtherapyinternational.com
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Doctors Use Mozart
Ngare Ring lives on the Sunshine Coast in
Queensland and practiced for many years as a speech pathologist, before
being struck by a mysterious 21st century disease. She says “from one
day to the next, my energy disappeared and I was baffled as to the
cause of the problem.” But the disease, despite its debilitating
effects, has proven to have changed her life for the better.
Ngare’s father, the late Dr. Frank Ellis (1912-1974) used to play
Mozart and other composers to his patients during surgery when they
were under local anaesthetic. He found that the music soothed and
calmed them, making the experience much more comfortable and even
pleasant. He adopted this procedure after spending time in the USA with
the famous ear, nose and throat surgeon, Dr. Morris Cottle, who loved
music and began the practice of using music during surgery. This was in
the 1950s and the music he used was on a large reel-to-reel tape
player. Many music connoisseurs still claim this is the best sound
reproduction system ever invented.
Dr. Frank Ellis was one of Australia’s leading ENT (ear nose and
throat) surgeons between the 1950’s and 1970’s and was president of the
Otolarygological Society of Australia for a time. He was a pioneer in
Australia in the use of microsurgery to remove austic neuromas (benign
tumours of the auditory nerve).
Ngare was led to speech pathology due to her father and a lifetime
interest in language which, she remembers, began even as a toddler. She
believes that she was very fortunate to have been raised on classical
music as it has greatly enriched her experience of speech and language.
While working in California, she was able to combine her interest in
language and learning with her fascination for foreign languages and
became fluent enough in Spanish to work as a bilingual Special
Education teacher with immigrant children from Mexico.
Ngare worked as a speech pathologist/special educator all her life
until 1995 when she found that several amalgam dental fillings were
cracked and she was advised by her dentist to have the fillings
replaced. Being ill informed, like many dentists, on the dangers of
mercury in the amalgam; the dentist removed her fillings without taking
precautions to protect her from the toxic effects of gases and
particles that were released during the drilling process. He then
replaced her fillings with fresh mercury amalgam, which increased the
level of toxicity.
That was when Ngare’s energy disappeared and, from one day to the next
she, was faced with an enduring and inexplicable illness: including
lethargy, migraine headaches and vision problems. Ngare was told by
another dentist, who finally diagnosed her problem, that she had a very
severe case of mercury poisoning along with gangrenous areas in her
jawbone where wisdom teeth had been extracted. Because of all this she
was also showing signs of early Multiple Sclerosis.
She sought help from many practitioners, and while pharmaceutical
medicine made her condition worse, she received some relief from
chiropractic and naturopathic treatment. But the beginning of the real
turnaround came when she discovered Sound Therapy. Prior to this, Ngare
undertook some rebirthing sessions in the hope of getting to the cause
of her problems. One day the therapist asked her “tell me what you love
most in the world.” Ngare was surprised to notice that the first three
things she mentioned all had to do with music. During the rebirthing
session, Ngare had what she describes as an incredible out-of-body
experience where she saw herself sliding into a pool, surrounded by
beautiful music. It was this experience that renewed her great interest
in music and which eventually led to her discovery of Sound Therapy.
It was soon after the rebirthing experience that she came across the
book “The Mozart Effect” by Don Campbell and from there was led to
Sound Therapy, a portable self help listening program based on the work
of the French ENT Specialist, Dr. Alfred Tomatis. Ngare read with
fascination of the work of Dr. Tomatis who, using the reel-to-reel tape
machines of the 1950s devised a listening program which not only could
improve speech and language function and was a highly effective
treatment for learning difficulties, but also helped to stimulate brain
pathways and replenish energy systems in the body. Plagued as she was
by chronic fatigue and constant severe migraine headaches related to
heavy metal poisoning, Ngare was eager for anything that could give her
back her vitality. She began using the Sound Therapy tapes and very
soon her energy started to improve. The filtered music also gave her a
feeling of hope and, from this time on, she was led to all the other
things she needed. Beginning Sound Therapy was a real turning point for
Ngare.
Along with a new sense of positivity, Ngare found she had an incredible
new musical awareness. She says “I always loved music, but now I can’t
live without it. It opens my heart.”
Dr. Tomatis, who knew of the healing power of Mozart for learning and
emotional healing long before it was scientifically tested and proven,
said “Mozart is a good mother.”
Given courage to seek further healing, Ngare found a Holistic dentist
who replaced her amalgam fillings with the new composite type, but this
time used proper protective measures such as rubber dams, oxygen
supply, proper sequencing to reduce the battery-like effect of
dissimilar metals in the mouth (mercury fillings and gold caps) and, of
course, safe disposal of the amalgam material. She experienced
immediate improvement in her health once the mercury fillings were
removed. She also continued to benefit from Sound Therapy and began
introducing the method to her family and clients. Ngare says that all
members of her family have seen remarkable improvements from the
therapy. Her husband has experienced a lowering of blood pressure and,
with the reduced stress, he is like a different man. He no longer gets
upset about minor things and sleeps like a baby for the first time in
years. He uses the Sound Therapy while working in front of the
computer. "One of the great benefits", explains Ngare "is that you
don’t have to concentrate on the therapy as it works on your ear at an
unconscious level, so it is very suitable for busy people."
Ngare’s mother, aged 86, had severe insomnia for many years, but now it
is rare for her to have any sleeping problem. Her hearing has also
improved; she had a loss of high frequencies in her left ear, which is
no longer apparent. She now looks and acts like a woman 20 years
younger than her actual age!
Ngare’s sister has been through some very stressful years. Since using
Sound Therapy, she has become much more positive and is sleeping a lot
better. She says: "I can cope with just about anything these days
thanks to Sound Therapy. I keeps me calm and centred." Ngare’s twin
nieces who are typical of identical twins, being very emotionally,
close have also been through trying times; so Ngare suggested they try
Sound Therapy. One of them took up the listening and, as a result, her
grandmother describes her as “a different girl.” She now has a much
more positive attitude, is sleeping better and no longer waking every
night at 2 am.
Ngare is particularly excited by the possibility of using Sound Therapy
in conjunction with speech pathology. Having had to give up her
practice due to her illness, she intends to resume it in a new form,
combined with Sound Therapy. Ngare loved her work but found there were
some clients she simply could not help. Coming from a medical tradition
of using Mozart in the surgery, Ngare is undeterred by convention, for
she has experienced first hand the remarkable healing power of music
and is determined to gain for Sound Therapy the recognition it deserves
in her field.
This article was written in 2001. Ngare is now retired and prefers not
to take enquiries.
For more information please contact Sound Therapy International 02)
4234-4534 or 1300 55 77 96
e-mail
info@soundtherapyinternational.com
www.soundtherapyinternational.com
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Environmental health for children
By Rafaele Joudry
Protecting your baby from
toxic and dangerous interventions
Mothers who took thalidomide did not know until their babies were born
that the drug would cause birth defects. The last generation of people
who took to smoking cigarettes did not know what a serious health
hazard they would prove to be. All the workers who installed asbestos
in the 1950s, 60s and 70s did not know they were setting themselves up
for mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer. Likewise, mothers today do
not know the implications for their children’s future health, when
undertaking procedures such as ultrasound and vaccinations. There is
sufficient evidence that these procedures may be harmful, to warrant
every parent undertaking careful investigation before deciding if they
will expose their children to these procedures. A few hours of research
beforehand could save years of remedial therapy and thousands of
dollars. It is my hope that many parents will read the following
sections in time to make their own informed decisions at least for
their next child.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound technology is based upon ultra
high-frequency sound waves, which bombard the child in the womb at an
extremely high rate of speed. To get an idea of what this may do, think
of the situation where a woman with an extremely high voice can break a
glass by singing an extremely high-pitched note. That is an example of
what just ONE relatively slow sound wave can do. Ultrasound is super
high frequency, which may have more detrimental effects. Ultrasound
waves in laboratory experiments have been known to damage chromosomes,
produce internal cellular heat which damages cells, retard the normal
development of cells, and many other phenomena.
According to the World Health Organization and U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Report, ‘It is not clear at this time whether
ultrasound foetal monitoring is beneficial to the mother or foetus in
terms of pregnancy outcome...If there is no generally acknowledged
benefit to the monitoring, there is no reason to expose patients to
increased cost and risk. The question of benefit has not yet been
resolved...and the potential for delayed effects has been virtually
ignored.’
Ultrasound technology carries potential risks which have not yet been
evaluated, yet it is assumed to be completely safe and doctors are
telling women that there is no risk. Having an ultrasound is not
essential to a healthy pregnancy. However, most doctors are trained to
use expensive technology and not trained to use hands-on skills. The
fault is not with the doctors, but in the way they are trained.
Before you allow an ultrasound to be done on you, do some research,
thoroughly question your healthcare provider about safety as well as
the value of the information which would be received from doing the
procedure. Don't be afraid to refuse the test if you are not
comfortable with the information you have discovered. It is your legal
right to refuse any tests you do not want.
Evidence has been uncovered by scientists suggesting that ultrasound
scans on pregnant women cause brain damage in their unborn babies.
Several studies done in the 1990s hinted at this. In the most
comprehensive study yet on the effect of the scanning, doctors have
found that men born to mothers who underwent scanning were more likely
to show signs of subtle brain damage.
Research has suggested that subtle brain damage can cause people who
ought genetically to be right-handed to become left-handed. In
addition, these people face a higher risk of conditions ranging from
learning difficulties to epilepsy.
A team of Swedish scientists compared almost 7,000 men whose mothers
underwent scanning in the 1970s, with 170,000 men whose mothers did
not, looking for differences in the rates of left- and
right-handedness. The team found that men whose mothers had scans were
significantly more likely to be left-handed than normal, pointing to a
higher rate of brain damage while in the womb. Crucially, the biggest
difference was found among those born after 1975, when doctors
introduced a second scan later in pregnancy. Such men were 32 percent
more likely to be left-handed than those in the control group.
Premature babies are five times more likely than normal to be
left-handed. According to the Swedish researchers, the human brain
undergoes critical development until relatively late in pregnancy,
making it vulnerable to damage. In addition, the male brain is
especially at risk, as it continues to develop later than the female
brain.
Ultrasound scans in late pregnancy are now routine in many countries.
It appears that as many as one in 50 male foetuses pre-natally exposed
to ultrasound is affected.
The growing evidence that ultrasound affects unborn babies may cast new
light on the puzzling rise in left-handedness over recent years. In
Britain, the rate has more than doubled, from five per cent in the
1920s to eleven per cent today. Researchers have estimated that only
twenty per cent of this rise can be put down to the suppression of
left-handedness among the older generation.
Dr Francis Duck of the British Medical Ultrasound Society said, ‘When
the first study suggesting a link came out, it was possible to ignore
it, but now this is the third,’ he said. ‘What it demonstrates is the
need to investigate the link further, and to look at possible
mechanisms.’
Other research by scientists at University College, Dublin, confirmed
the findings of earlier American research that ultrasound
tissue-heating creates changes in cells and can cause bleeding in mouse
intestines.
Patrick Brennan, who led the research, said, ‘It has been assumed for a
long time that ultrasound has no effect on cells. We now have grounds
to question that assumption.’ Four and a half hours after the mice were
exposed, the rate of cell division had reduced by twenty two percent
and the rate of programmed cell death had approximately doubled. Mr
Brennan believes there will be similar effects in humans.
Although supposedly said to work with sound waves, ultrasound waves are
not in the audible range, so their high frequency is not natural to the
body. Dr. Mendelsohn wrote, ‘Ultrasound produces at least two
biological effects—heat and a process called 'cavitation', in which
bubbles are created that expand and contract in response to sound
waves. The first time I saw this cavitation process in action, a
chiropractor turned on the therapeutic ultrasound machine in his office
and placed a few drops of water on the part of the machine that was
applied to the patient. I wish every reader...could have been with me
to watch that water suddenly boil and bubble’
Dr. Mendelsohn has done extensive investigations to learn the truth
about ultrasound. He eventually ortained copies of documents
researching the procedure, which anyone may receive by writing to: WHO
Publications Center, 49 Sheridan Ave., Albany, NY 12210, asking for
‘Environmental Health Criteria 22: Ultrasound.’
Experiments cited in these documents indicated reduced foetal weight
and reduced foetal organ weight in animals who received ultrasound.
Researchers are noticing a small but definite reduction in newborn
birth rate among human infants exposed to ultrasound. There is evidence
that the immune systems of laboratory animals exposed to the procedure
are affected. The procedure also affects the blood platelets which
allow the blood to clot. This could lead to problems with circulation
because of travelling blood clots. Of even greater concern, changes in
the structure and composition of cells, including genetic material,
have been suspected. In experiments with animals, these changes have
resulted in defective embryos with a variety of problems. Much more is
not known, than is known, and researchers postulate that it may be
twenty years before we really know the problems incurred by ultrasound,
including the possibility of cancer and, most commonly suspected,
leukaemia. The mother might also experience congenital malformations.
Reading this information, one cannot but suspect that the increasing
use of ultrasound is responsible in part for the increase in learning
difficulties today.
The vexed question of
vaccination
Vaccination is a complex and
emotion-fraught question which all parents must address. My mistake was
not arming myself with information sooner. My parents were
well-informed on issues concerning natural health and stopped
vaccinating their children in my early childhood, so I received fewer
vaccinations than most.
However, I failed to fully investigate the reasons and pass on the
knowledge about the dangers to my foster daughter, in time. Her active,
healthy boy returned from his first round of vaccination with
respiratory disturbances and fretful behaviour which had not been there
previously. After the second round of vaccinations at eighteen months,
his symptoms worsened. As he became a toddler, behavioural
abnormalities showed up which were finally diagnosed as ADHD. His
mother then informed herself, found supportive professionals and did
not vaccinate her second child, who shows none of these behavioural
disorders.
This alerted me sufficiently, and I decided to seek out well-informed
scientific information. I went to visit one of Australia’s leading
authorities on the subject of vaccination, Dr Viera Scheibner, who
lives in the Blue Mountains. My eyes boggled as I walked into Dr
Scheibner’s archive room. On the shelves were two hundred magazine
holders, each containing about thirty scientific articles on
vaccination, and another two hundred ring binders containing more
articles. I asked if she had read them all; she had. It was clear that
she is a true authority on the subject.
Of Slavic origin, Dr Scheibner holds a PhD in Natural Sciences. After
an eminent scientific career, during which she published three books
and some ninety scientific papers in refereed scientific journals in
Australia and overseas, her study of babies’ breathing patterns and cot
death in the mid 1980s clearly pointed to vaccines as being behind the
majority of cot deaths. Together with Leif Karlsson, an electronics
engineer, she developed Cotwatch, a breathing monitor to be used for
babies thought to be at risk of cot death or ‘sudden infant death
syndrome’ (SIDS). The team soon realised that the Cotwatch was sounding
alarms when babies were affected by a range of stressful events, the
most prominent being vaccination. In her own words, ‘It took over three
years of research before we looked at each other and said, “Vaccines
are killing babies”’. This introduced her to the subject of
vaccination, which she has, as a result, been avidly studying ever
since.
Despite extensive examination of orthodox medical research published on
vaccines over the past one hundred years, Dr Scheibner told me she
could find no scientific evidence that these injections of highly
noxious substances prevent diseases. To the contrary, she found that
they increase susceptibility to them, in addition to causing a host of
immune disorders and other damage to the body, including the brain. She
was therefore forced to conclude that they represent nothing but a
medical assault on the immune system. Having vaccinated her own two
daughters when she was a young mother (and also, more recently, having
insisted on being given a tetanus vaccine herself) this was not easy to
come to terms with.
Numerous other doctors who are true investigators in their own right,
in that they are willing to go outside their standard medical education
and search out their own evidence, have reached the same conclusions.
Here are some quotes from some of these experts, featured in the video:
Vaccination: ‘The
hidden truth’
‘... [my daughter’s] symptoms were
intensifying after each vaccine...So I wrote to the governments and got
figures.…I realised there was a lot of information that we were being
told... which wasn’t true...’ Dr Isaac
Golden—Homoeopath, Teacher, Author: ‘Vaccination: A Review of Risks and
Alternatives’
‘They say openly in the [medical] legal system that if you advise
against vaccination the A.M.A. will push to deregister.…These are
symptoms that, if they were seen in a child who had not just been
vaccinated, all us doctors would be a little concerned that this child
perhaps had a type of viral meningitis. We wouldn’t just sit back and
say, ‘That’s fine. Take some Panadol and it will go away.’ Dr Robyn Cosford—Medical Doctor
‘It is a well documented fact that the incidence and mortality from
infectious diseases fell by 90% well before any vaccine was even
introduced...This is not a rare occurrence. Epidemics in fully
vaccinated populations are a rule rather than an exception....So [in
the U.S.] they mandated vaccination and it resulted in a three-fold
increase in whooping cough...’ Dr Viera
Scheibner, Ph D Principle Research Scientist (Ret.), Cotwatch Monitor
researcher.
‘Babies are injected with bits of animal, bacteria, viral DNA. They can
be incorporated into the human genome.…Why is it that only since the
‘40s have autism, brain damage come about? Because this was when
immunisation was introduced to a large extent.…Vaccines are a billion
dollar industry, and there are at least a billion good reasons there
why it’s continued.’ Dr Peter Baratosy—Medical Doctor, Author: ‘There is
Always An Alternative’
‘Even once they’ve stopped vaccinating, residue results through
infertility, arthritic conditions,... dogs have one seventh of the
length of a generation that a human does, so what we are seeing in dogs
today is what we will see in the future with humans, and that’s a
really frightening thing.’
Ashleigh Oulton - Registered Dog Breeder: ‘Before he (Louis Pasteur—the
“father of modern medicine” and originator of the Germ Theory of
disease) died, he changed his mind. He ended up saying it’s not the
germ, but the conditions within the body...’ Ian
Sinclair—Natural Health Lecturer, Author ‘Vaccination: The Hidden Facts’
‘They don’t tell us that if your child misses the whooping cough
vaccine it is less likely to develop asthma, ...measles
vaccine...inflammatory bowel disease, Hepatitis B or Hib vaccine
...diabetes, ...rubella vaccine ...arthritis...’
‘I call it a cultural trance .…Most health experts... very rarely read
their own professional journals—most of them are so busy….We believe
health is not bought in a bottle or a syringe. Health is a direct
result of healthful living, and natural health, there is no other
sort.’ Greg Beattie—Father of 7 children, Author ‘Vaccination: A
Parent’s Dilemma’
The evidence against
vaccination
In our life times we were taught, and passively believed, that
vaccination was a good thing and that it reduced disease.
Statistics were offered which showed a decrease in disease which was
attributed to vaccination. In fact, deaths had already declined by more
than 90% during the 20th century before vaccines were introduced. The
main reason for the decline was, in fact, improved sanitation and
better living conditions.
There has been no properly run, randomised, double blind,
placebo-controlled trial to prove the effectiveness of vaccination.
This will not occur because the pharmaceutical industries control all
of the research and have too much to lose, since vaccination is a
billion dollar industry.
Many articles in medical journals present evidence that vaccination
works, and claim effectiveness. However, unbiased independent
researchers who have examined the evidence have noted that many
unscientific methods were used in these studies.
These include:
- The use of toxic injections used in the
placebo group.
- Comparing groups which historically did not
vaccinate, ignoring the fact that the reasons for this may pollute the
evidence such as:
- May have been already immune-suppressed
- Low socio-economic status, leaving them more
susceptible to disease due to poor nutrition and living
conditions
- Excluding participants on other technicalities
which may falsely influence the statistics...
For those who will look, there are vast amounts of
statistical evidence that vaccination is harmful. This is not widely
published, and has been gathered by dedicated doctors who place their
commitment to the truth ahead of their acceptability and recognition by
the normal circles of the medical establishment. Dr Viera Scheibner
cites the following evidence that disease outbreaks actually increased
dramatically after the introduction of vaccines.
- Whooping cough has been rising in the US since
1978, when vaccination was mandated for school entry.
- The incidence of cot death dropped in Japan
when the DPT vaccine was stopped.
- Measles, which had virtually died out in
Europe, rose again when measles vaccination programs were started.
- Vaccines which the mother received herself in
childhood, weaken the tranplacentally-transmitted immunity that should
be passed on from mother to baby.
Vaccines are known to contain bacteria, viruses
(or their protein envelopes) and a number of toxins with specific
neurotoxic activity. An injected vaccine doesn’t go through the immune
system. It actually gets direct access to vital organs. There is no
natural filtration.
According to Dr Scheibner, the entire precept on which the theory of
vaccination is based, is in error. The fact that the body produces
antibodies in response to the vaccine, is the evidence used to say that
immunity has been achieved. This is a false assumption, and a gross
oversimplification of how the immune system actually works. For
example, for immunity to be created there must be activation of the
secretory antibody IgA, which plays an important role in the whole
process. This, and many other processes which occur in the outer levels
of defence, are bypassed by injections, leaving the immune system
damaged and compromised instead.
In a properly functioning immune system, after a disease has been
contracted, the person becomes immune to that disease. However, it has
been found that vaccine recipients are not only still as susceptible to
the illness, but that they can contract it more than once.
Development of the immune system is retarded by vaccines, so that by
adolescence it has only reached the stage it should be at in childhood.
This immune damage means that only those who have been vaccinated are
contracting atypical forms of the disease—where the disease heads
straight for the internal organs, bypassing the mouth, nose throat and
respiratory system which are designed as the body’s natural immune
defence system.
Oral vaccines do not eliminate this problem, as Dr Scheibner explains:
‘…What would be the difference between natural infection, which is
through the gastro-intestinal system, particularly in polio, and the
oral polio vaccine? The difference is this. When you get the natural
infection, you get 10 cells of bacteria or 10 pieces of crystals of
viruses. This is published. Vaccines contain billions of organisms, so
it’s like a septic shock. It’s a massive overdose of infective
material.’
Dr Scheibner says that what vaccination achieves is sensitisation, not
immunization. Sensitisation is really the opposite of immunisation.
Sensitisation, also called Anaphylaxis, creates increased
susceptibility by confusing the immune system. Interestingly,
immunologists themselves are becoming more uncomfortable about the fact
that vaccine injections can only stimulate a significant IgG antibody
response if they include toxic sensitising substances, referred to as
‘adjuvants’, in the concoction.
Vaccination can in fact lead to the development of auto-immune
diseases, because of this confusion. What happens is that the immune
system’s detection ability is damaged so it cannot identify the ‘good
guys’ from the ‘bad guys’, resulting in the body attacking its own
cells.
The importance of information Dr Scheibner believes in having full
knowledge, and insists that it is imperative that parents educate
themselves about the whole issue, because, as she says:‘Some of them
may continue vaccinating their children. Or the other children in the
family, thinking that it only happens to one in a million, which is not
true. Every child is affected. Vaccinated children are not the same as
unvaccinated. There is some damage in all of them. Allergies are number
one. Or eating problems, mild digestive problems, it still is totally
unnecessary.’
A network of concerned parents and professionals have dedicated
themselves to making this information available to the public. The
Australian Vaccination Network is an association which provides
up-to-date information—that is not biased by pharmaceutical company
interests—on the latest knowledge and research into the effects of
vaccinations, alternatives and remedial therapies to deal with
vaccinations’ after-effects. Thanks to the internet, it is now easy for
families to access this health-saving information. If you are convinced
that you do not want to vaccinate, visit www.avn.org.au to learn more about
the AVN and their resources. Their magazine, Informed Choice, is an
excellent resource for parents and practitioners wishing to keep
informed.
If you need to know more in order to make the right decision for you, a
very informative website on vaccination, which includes easy to
understand scientific articles and many resource books and videos, is
www.vaccination.inoz.com. There you can order the video,
‘Vaccination: The Hidden Truth’. This is a highly informative
exposé of the facts about vaccination, with interviews by over
twelve doctors, researchers and parents who have in-depth knowledge of
the issue. The flier for the video asks, ‘Should we shoot first and ask
questions later?’ Parents who like to make their own decisions will
want to see this video before giving their children any further
vaccines.
The medical and educational establishments exert great pressure on
parents to vaccinate. It is very hard for a parent who is less educated
than their doctor to refute apparently well-informed arguments put
forward by a medical practitioner; and not to be intimidated when the
day care centre says they must vaccinate. However, it is
constitutionally illegal for vaccination to be mandated. A form stating
conscientious objection, which must be signed by a sympathetic medical
practitioner, will give the child access to educational facilities.
Parents can join the AVN to get the necessary resources and referrals.
Go to www.avn.org.au and then click on related links and then
conscientious and medical exemption forms. However, be aware that if
you take one of these forms to an average medical practitioner they may
try to persuade you to vaccinate. The form requires that they inform
you of the potential risks of not vaccinating your child. Most parents
will need to find a supportive practitioner to give moral support if
they are to go against the sanctioned medical position.
As a person armed with such extensive information about vaccination, Dr
Scheibner is concerned about the fact that most parents simply believe
what their family doctor tells them, when in most cases the doctor is
simply following the established medical line with very little
information. ‘We also need to tell the doctors,’ she says ‘ because
they get a very limited education, and they believe anything they are
told.’ Dr Scheibner’s concern is well-founded as she has confronted
this ignorance in many settings, including courts of law. She explained
to me in our interview: ‘As an example, the United States keeps
publishing that there are only 12 cases of vaccine-caused poliomyelitis
in the United States per year. One GP said that to me and I said ‘And
you believe it?’ Learn to ask that question – ‘And you believe it?’
Well, don’t believe it. Because they only mark one in every 154 cases
of vaccine-caused poliomyelitis per year. From the statistics I have
examined, I estimate that the United States must have 12,000 cases of
vaccine-caused poliomyelitis. And that’s about the size of it. Well, I
said 12; you know—they just lost some zeros. They feel better like
there’s some truth in it.’
For more information on this subject read the very informative article,
‘Do vaccines protect against diseases at all?’ by Bronwyn Hancock 1999.
Shaken baby syndrome
The following is an excerpt from work by
Dr Viera Scheibner on her extensive research and advocation work in the
area of so-called ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome.’
‘Recently there has been quite an ‘epidemic’ of the so-called ‘shaken
baby syndrome’. Parents, usually the fathers, or other care-givers such
as nannies have increasingly been accused of shaking a baby to the
point of causing permanent brain damage and death. Why? Is there an
unprecedented increase in the number of people who commit infanticide
or have an ambition to seriously hurt babies? Or is there something
more sinister at play?
Some time ago I started getting requests from lawyers or the accused
parents themselves for expert reports. A close study of the history of
these cases revealed something distinctly sinister: in every single
case, the symptoms appeared shortly after the baby's vaccinations.
While investigating the personal medical history of these babies based
on the care-givers' diaries and medical records, I quickly established
that these babies were given one or more of the series of so-called
routine shots—hepatitis B, DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), polio
and HiB (Haemophilus influenzae type B) —shortly before they developed
symptoms of illness resulting in serious brain damage or death.
The usual scenario is that a baby is born and does well initially. At
the usual age of about two months it is administered the first series
of vaccines as above. (Sometimes a hepatitis B injection is given
shortly after birth while the mother and child are still in hospital.
However, a great number of babies now die within days or within two to
four weeks of birth after hepatitis B vaccination, as documented by the
records of the VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System] in the
USA.) So, the baby stops progressing, starts deteriorating, and usually
develops signs of respiratory tract infection. Then comes the second
and third injections, and tragedy strikes: the child may cry intensely
and inconsolably, may stop feeding properly, vomit, have difficulty
swallowing, become irritable, stop sleeping, and may develop
convulsions with accelerating progressive deterioration of its
condition and mainly its brain function.
This deterioration may be fast, or may slowly inch in until the parents
notice that something is very wrong with their child and then rush it
to the doctor or hospital. Interestingly, they are invariably asked
when the baby was immunised. On learning that the baby was indeed
‘immunised’, the parents may be reassured that its symptoms will all
clear up. They are sent home with the advice, ‘Give your baby Panadol’.
If they persist in considering the baby's reaction serious, they may be
labelled as anxious parents or trouble-makers. So the parents go home,
and the child remains in a serious condition or dies.
Until recently, the vaccine death would have just been labelled ‘sudden
infant death’, particularly if the symptoms and pathological findings
were minimal. However, nowadays, with an alarmingly increasing
frequency, the parents (or at least one of them, usually the father)
may be accused of shaking the baby to death. The accused may even
‘confess’ to shaking the baby, giving the reason, for example, that
having found the baby lying still and not breathing and/or with a
glazed look in its eyes, they shook it gently—as is only natural—in
their attempt to revive it. Sometimes, ironically, they save the baby's
life, only to be accused of causing the internal injuries that made the
baby stop breathing in the first place, and which in fact were already
present when they shook the baby to revive it.’
Our choices
This information about the potentially
damaging effects of chemical toxins, ultrasound and vaccination, will
inevitably bring grief, remorse and anger to parents who find out too
late what they might have avoided. However, it is better to be informed
than not. On the encouraging side, the reports in Chapter 8 detail the
positive changes which can be achieved in healing children with
supportive therapies.
It is never too late for a child, or even an adult, to improve. Nature
and the human body are incredibly resilient, always striving to heal,
always recreating cells, always processing and clearing out foreign
matter which the immune system rejects. Given half a chance, remarkable
healing happens. So please be heartened by the new knowledge you have,
by the fact that you have choices every day as to which chemicals,
foods and other stimuli your family will be exposed to. Use this
information to exercise those choices and help to create a toxin-free,
naturally nurturing environment for your loved ones.
Rafaele Joudry is the founder and director of Sound Therapy
International and the author of three books on Sound Therapy,
including, Why Aren’t I Learning? Listening is the Key to Overcoming
Learning Difficulties. Contact: Sound Therapy International, Phone
(Int+612) (Aust 02) 4234-4534 or 1300 55 77 96
info@soundtherapyinternational.com
www.soundtherapyinternational.com
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Katie’s Blocked Ear
Excerpts from interview with Katie Fitzgerald for
Sound Therapy video 2002.
Katie Fitzgerald was also featured in the Sydney Morning Herald column
“Why I…” on Oct 14th 2004
My health generally is outstanding, I’m a very healthy person, I don’t
get sick, I don’t get colds, I’m really fit and healthy, I eat well and
I don’t drink very much. I go to yoga three times a week. I play
tennis, really badly. Somebody told me Sound Therapy helps tennis, I’m
waiting for that to happen.
The reason that I came to Sound Therapy was because, probably for as
long as I can remember, I’ve had a really strange ear. The best way I
can describe it to you it’s like if you have a cold and your head gets
blocked. Or if you’re in a plane or a lift, that sensation of your ear
being blocked. So that was very specifically the reason that I came to
Sound Therapy. I think I’ve always had it, but in the last 3 to 4 years
I became really aware of it because I took up singing, and I think the
reason that I hadn’t ever sung before was subconsciously to do with my
ear.
Other treatments
First I went to a regular ear, nose and throat specialist and he
diagnosed me as having a patulous Eustachian tube. He said, sometimes
happens that it’s either too open or too closed and that kind of
sounded right. He gave me these drops that are made out of sugar and he
said to put them down my nose, before I wanted to sing, because that’s
when I’m most conscious of it. He said it will irritate the back of
your Eustachian tube and will make it closed, and that then I’d be
fine. But it was very short term and very immediate, it wasn’t an
ongoing fix.
In fact it made me feel sick, so it didn’t work at all for me.
Then I went to an acupuncturist and I think that helped a little bit. I
had lots of acupuncture and little black pills, but again it wasn’t
ongoing. Next I went to another ear nose and throat specialist and he
gave me a cortisone spray and that didn’t help at all. Then he put me
in hospital and put a grommet in my ear and that didn’t help at all. In
fact that made it worse and I knew within a week or so that it wasn’t
going to help, because I still had the same blocked sensation, but I
also had this other weird sensation of having a hole in my eardrum,
which is what I had. So it was actually worse. So then he put me back
in hospital 3 or 4 months later and took it out again. And when I went
back to him, he actually said to me that he didn’t know what else to
do, which I knew was what he was going to say.
Finding Sound Therapy
My regular GP mentioned Sound Therapy to me about 3 years ago, but I
think I just wasn’t ready to hear it at the time. At that point I was
seeing her because I wanted a referral to the ear nose and throat
specialist, and I just dismissed it, but you know funnily enough 3
years later Sound Therapy was actually the very thing that’s worked for
me.
I saw the Sound Therapy book in a bookshop. I don’t know that I was
consciously looking for anything at the time, I may have been, because
I’ve been singing and, and my ear always seems very blocked up when I
sing, because it was an emotional issue around it as well. So I saw the
book and I read it and I just knew straight away that it would help me.
So I rang Sound Therapy and decided to try it.
It was a bit strange at first, walking around with these things in your
ear and you try to listen to the sound but you try not to listen to it,
so you just try and be normal about it which is a bit funny, but you
get used to it.
The healing
After I got used to physically having it in and just sort of
incorporating it into my day, I went through a period, maybe a few
weeks into listening when I found myself getting really irritated. I
don’t know directly what that was from but I rang Sound Therapy
International and spoke to Cath about it and she just encouraged me to
keep going a little bit more. Then all of a sudden, within a period of
a week, I remember it distinctly, my ear just cleared by itself and
then it would get blocked up again and then it just seemed to keep
clearing by itself. And each day, over a period of about 3 or 4 days it
just got significantly clearer and not blocked. And it stayed like
that. So I rang her and told her that it was a miracle!
The cause of the problem
I had had the problem, I think, all my life. One of the ear doctors
said to me that it was probably anatomical. I became really conscious
of it a few years ago because I wanted to sing. But I also think there
was an incident in my childhood where a singing teacher told me not to
sing. She told me just to open my mouth but nothing would come out. And
then I think that the message I internalized to myself was that I
wasn’t to be heard. So I think my ear tried to not let me hear myself,
if that makes any sense. So there was definitely an emotional component
that was compounding, probably a potentially weak ear. So I think that
it had actually been there all my life but I just became really aware
of it in the last 2 to 3, years as I was having singing lessons. And
I’d get really emotional around singing and I, I’d tell my singing
teacher about my ear. So I had this need to spend half my singing
lesson talking about my ear. I worked my way through it emotionally as
well, but I just know that listening to the tapes did something,
probably on a physical level, but maybe on emotional level as well.
Singing is something that’s really important to me, not because I want
to be a world famous singer, but I find that it’s a really basic
expression of who we are. I love singing with people. There’s a lot of
lovely connection and communication and creativity for me that’s
connected to singing and it’s something that I spent most of my life
not being able to do, because of my ear. I feel totally comfortable
with my ear now. And I sing! I sing in a choir and it gives me a lot of
joy and a lot of pleasure in my life. And I couldn’t do that before
because I struggled so much with my ear. Sound Therapy was really the
thing that finally worked for me. So I would really recommend it to
people. It’s not going to hurt you.
Intuitively I think what the ENT Dr said was probably right. I think
that I probably have some sort of physical weakness in my ear. And the
way he described what the Eustachian tube does, that there was too much
air in there some how or other, I think that was correct, but I also
think from reading the Sound Therapy book, our ear is very intricate
and delicate and there could be tiny little things that were affecting
it. So I don’t know whether the music enlivened those little bits of my
ear or bought them back to life. Maybe something like that was
happening that just made a slight physical difference to a part of my
ear but actually made quite a profound difference to how I hear.
On medical practice
All I can say is how it was for me. I think the medical profession can
be quite conservative and unless they can really articulate very
clearly why something’s happening I think they tend to dismiss it. I
think there’s a lot of things going on with our body and our mind that
we’re not necessarily totally aware of. And I think we’re really
connected to sound and vibration, I think that’s a real part of us. I
can totally accept and I can feel that Sound Therapy can work on a
physical level as well as some other, maybe more intangible level.
I admire Dr. Tomatis for exploring all those areas probably at a time
where he was seen as not very traditional. I admire him for making
those explorations and looking it at from an emotional point of view as
well as from a physical point of view. And looking at how those two
parts of us come together and how they work together, which is
something I’ve always really believed. I think our bodies know
everything. I think all of the wisdom is in our body.
The experience of listening
Listening to the Sound Therapy tapes was actually quite enjoyable and
it was nice to go in and out of being consciously aware of listening to
it.
Quite often I wasn’t really conscious of listening to it, I was just
doing my regular work. Every now and then it seemed that I’d become
conscious of a part of the music that that had become one of my
favourite parts and it was just really enjoyable listening to it. Quite
often I would say that I experienced really pleasant uplifting
feelings. It was just a really pleasant comforting feeling that I got
from listening to the music.
The music fairly much just sounds like regular classical music so it’s
very enjoyable. Every now and then you become aware that something else
is going on and I find that quite intriguing. But the music is really
pleasant. Sometimes the screechy bits used to make me laugh, I just
found those quite amusing.
The Sound Therapy book
The Sound Therapy book was very interesting and very easy to read. It
had a kind of quirky manner which I found really appealing. There were
lots of stories you could relate to very easily. I liked hearing about
other people’s experiences. I liked hearing about, Patricia’s own
experiences with her hearing dysfunctions and her own journey, and the
trouble that she went to at one point in her life to actually go to the
monastery and listen to the tapes. And just lots of little discoveries
that she’d made about how she was becoming a bit more technical and how
the sound of brown paper bags didn’t drive her mad as much as they used
to. It was written in a very easy to read, friendly fashion. And it
wasn’t too technical. There were little bits that were technical about
how our ear works, if you wanted to read that. Reading the book was
what convinced me to do the Sound Therapy, so it worked really well for
me. I’ve read it lots of times, I’ve referred back to it and I often
still do when I don’t know something particular that I’m trying to work
out.
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Listening that makes hearing possible – For
Probus Magazine Part 2
An article on Sound Therapy was published in the
autumn 2000 issue of Probus magazine. Due to the huge response we
received from that article we thought that some follow-up information
would be appreciated by our readers.
Over the last few months Rafaele Joudry, author and Director of Sound
Therapy International Pty Ltd. has been invited to speak to many Probus
groups around Sydney and in other parts of Australia. There has been an
overwhelmingly positive response to her talks as Sound Therapy is very
relevant to people of a mature age and has proved to be of great
interest to Probus members. Rafaele is an entertaining and
knowledgeable speaker with twelve years experience in the Sound Therapy
field.
We were asked some valid questions by the people who responded, and we
have printed the answers to these questions. We thank the many hundreds
of people who showed interest and hope that the following information
is useful for you.
The previous article explored the use of Sound Therapy to rehabilitate
the ear and stimulate the brain using enhanced classical music. It has
been useful in treating cases of: Hearing loss – degenerative loss due
to aging or nerve damage, caused by viruses, noise, surgery, ear
infections.
Tinnitus – noise
such as ringing or buzzing heard inside the ear, due to inner ear
damage caused by industrial, loud or sudden noise, viral damage,
surgery, stress or a build up of certain drugs or toxins.
Cocktail Party Syndrome – An inability to differentiate sounds, e.g.
difficulty following a conversation in a noisy room. Caused by various
forms of ear damage.
Hyperacusis –
Hypersensitivity to sound – loud, shrill sounds etc.
Pressure problems
–popping in the ears or difficulty equalising the pressure when flying.
Meniere’s Syndrome
– dizziness/vertigo/loss of balance, nausea, vomiting, tinnitus,
hearing loss – caused by too much fluid pressure in the inner ear
resulting form twitches or spasms in the stirrup muscle.
Other areas that Sound Therapy has been useful in treating are
‘selective’ hearing, short attention span, memory loss, lack of
vitality and energy, learning difficulties, insomnia, and stress.
Commonly asked questions
Q. What does ‘enhanced’
classical music mean?
A. Sound Therapy
uses music from composers such as Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and Hayden. The
music is recorded through a device called the ‘Electronic Ear’ which
was developed by Dr Alfred Tomatis, a leading ear nose and throat
specialist. This device filters the music, enhancing the high
frequencies, diminishing the lows and constantly altering the pitch.
The music is recorded so that it is louder in the right ear than the
left in order to correct imbalances between the two sides of the brain.
Q. Why enhance the high
frequencies?
A. In nature, the
most common sounds that you hear are things such as running water, wind
in the trees, birds singing, frogs croaking; all high frequency sounds
which naturally occur in abundance. Low frequency sounds include waves
crashing, thunderstorms or large waterfalls. These sounds are a minor
component of the hearing ‘diet’. If we relate this natural balance to
the sounds that surround us today, there is a frightening discrepancy.
Lets simply look at our homes: refrigerators, computers, air
conditioners, exhaust fans, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, washing
machines… the list goes on. These machines all produce low frequency
sound. Dr Tomatis believes that low frequency sound drains our energy
and you may have noticed a sense of relief when the refrigerator motor
turns off, or the next door neighbor’s lawn mower stops.
The human body has wonderful survival mechanisms. With an onslaught of
low frequency sound, the ears simply shut down. Therefore the ear is
not even receptive to the high frequencies it may be exposed to. Sound
Therapy restored the ear’s sensitivity to high frequencies so that the
ear allows them in to its inner chambers. This then rebalances the
‘hearing diet’.
Q. How do high frequency
sounds affect the ear?
A. High
frequency sound has many physical effects in the rehabilitation of the
ear. Firstly it stimulates damaged cilia [the hearing hairs in the
inner ear] to an erect position after they have been flattened by
damaging noise. In the case of tinnitus, the flattened cilia may be
touching each other, causing a short circuit and therefore, noise.
Hearing loss generally occurs in the higher frequency range first. Dr
Tomatis found that 60% of the 30,000 hearing receptor cells are
intended to hear high frequency sounds. When this stimulus is missing
the result is feelings of weariness and lethargy.
Secondly the stimulation introduced by Sound Therapy improves the
overall vitality and flexibility of the ear mechanism. This sometimes
assists in clearing mucous build up which is causing infection or sinus
conditions.
Thirdly, the tiny, but important muscles in the middle ear, are
exercised by the changes in pitch occurring in the music. These muscles
mobilise the bones which, in turn regulate tension on the middle ear
hearing apparatus. They also regulate fluid balance within the inner
ear. When the fluid is imbalanced in the inner ear, it can lead to
dizziness, vertigo, nausea and travel sickness.
Last, but not least, high frequency sound stimulates, energises and
recharges the cortex of the brain, resulting in increased energy,
greater learning capabilities, better memory, creativity, and a feeling
of connection with others and the world around you. The nervous system
responds positively to high frequency sounds because ten of the twelve
cranial nerves are connected in some way to the ears. Therefore what we
hear has an immediate impact on our nervous system and stress is
usually significantly decreased by Sound Therapy.
Q. What does the treatment
entail?
A. Sound Therapy
is a self help, portable listening program consisting of 4 audio tapes
that are listened to in order through a personal cassette player, with
a specific high frequency response. It is easy, enjoyable and takes no
time out of your day. It requires no clinical visits and is available
at a minimal cost. Usual treatment consists of a minimum of 3 months
listening, depending on the severity of the condition. It is very
successful for preventing damage or further damage to the ears.
Comments from listeners
Many of our listeners report that their health practitioners have told
them there is no treatment available for hearing loss or tinnitus.
Surgery is occasionally recommended, if there is an obvious cause but
in most cases there is no obvious cause for tinnitus. Sound Therapy
obtains good results in most cases and is entirely safe. Most listeners
experience secondary benefits such as better sleep, less stress and
greater vitality.
Elaine Sax says of her
tinnitus:
“I was told ‘yes it is tinnitus, and there is nothing much you can do
about it’. It was just continual. I would get a break of maybe a minute
or two, and it would take off again’.
She reports that her tinnitus ‘was debilitating’, and goes on to say
“Initially there was a very very positive result within 3 months. I was
noise free, and at that point, my hearing had definitely improved.”
Elaine is now generally free of tinnitus, although a lower gradient
noise reoccurs occasionally. She says “At least I’ve got the means of
helping control it if, and when it does comes back”.
Elaine also says that she enjoys the extra energy that Sound Therapy
has provided.
Lee Heffelle is 74 and has experienced bouts of Meniere's Syndrome
which she describes as “horrific, and terrifying; to the point where I
was almost suicidal at one stage”
Her episodes occurred weekly, and took a week to get over, by which
time the next one would hit. Lee used mineral chelation therapy in
conjunction with Sound Therapy. Now several years later, Lee reports
that when she used Sound therapy, her Meniere's attacks stopped
entirely.
Lloyd Evans is 81 and still works as an historian. He has suffered from
tinnitus ‘for as long as I can remember, and that’s a long time!” He
says his tinnitus hadn’t affected him greatly “it was just a nuisance”,
that he had learned to put up with it, although in the last few years
it had “become a bit of a problem”.
After using Sound Therapy, he says “I have noticed that since using the
tapes, at first it made quite a dent in the incidence of the tinnitus,
and then it settled down to a very low level, and it just hasn’t
returned. Over the last 4 weeks or so, it just virtually disappeared”.
Lloyd adds how calming Sound Therapy is at moments of what he calls
‘intellectual agitation’.
The excerpts above are taken form interviews with listeners recorded by
Rafaele Joudry for her new book Triumph over Tinnitus, due to be
launched later this year. Her current book Sound Therapy: Music to
Recharge your Brain is currently available through bookstores
nationally, or by mail order from Sound Therapy International Pty. Ltd.
For further information, please contact the trained consultants at
Sound Therapy International Pty. Ltd.
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