Listening
Therapy is successful with:
Language Integration
"We can only speak a language
well when we hear it well, in other words when we can
analyse the sounds and recognise the rhythm of the linguistic
melody". Alfred A. Tomatis
In each part of the world and in every
country, there is a different type of hearing. The Germans
do not hear in the same way as the French who, in turn,
do not hear in the same way as the Italians. The impedance
in the air is the primary reason. The characteristics
of the environment have shaped the different languages
over hundreds of years, giving to each its specific
features which the ear has to get used to.
To speak a language we therefore have
to adapt our listening to the acoustic frequencies of
that language, which is not always immediately possible.
It is advisable to give the ear a specific training.
1. "The voice only contains what
the ear hears" which means: we speak a language
badly because we do not hear it properly.
2. "If the ear is given the chance
to hear properly, the voice instantly and unconsciously
improves":
We hear a language better, therefore we speak it better.
3. "It is possible to transform
the voice by using a system of auditive stimulation
for a given time" by
listening to a language with the Electronic Listening
Device we can manage to "integrate" this language
definitively.
The Human Ear
The human ear can theoretically capture
a large range of frequencies
(16-1600 Hz) and discern an infinite
amount of rhythms. However, as years go by, our ear
generally settles into a habit and remains efficient
above all in those frequencies and rhythms where we
use our mother tongue. It is difficult to break out
of this habit. The French mainly use the frequencies
from 1000 to 2000 Hz, while the English use frequencies
which range from 2000 to 12000 Hz. It is no surprise
that the French have so much difficulty in learning
English and the English learning French.
Each language therefore has a preferential
use for certain ranges of sound frequencies, called
basic frequency bands, as it demonstrated by the table
below:
The Electronic Listening Device
Thanks to the Listening Therapy, the
ear will be forced to hear what it does not hear naturally.
This can only be achieved by using a special system
which makes use of the latest technology. These exercises
are done with electronic switch-overs and by using a
set of filters and amplifiers, which respond to the
demands of the working of the human ear.
The Electronic Listening Device enables
the student to transform the way he ordinarily hears
so that he hears the language he wants to learn in the
way a native of that country would.
Training Process:
A listening test is undertaken to evaluate
the capacities of the student to perceive sounds and
demonstrates the aptitudes of the student for learning
the language chosen.
A programme with the Electronic Listening
Device is carried out in various stages:
* Sessions to make the ear sensitive to
the foreign language by using the filtered sounds of
the foreign language. A real acoustic immersion which
opens the ear to the foreign language.
* Active sessions using words
and texts to be repeated or readings of the language
to be integrated. These exercises enable to ear to be
trained to control accent, music of the language, rhythm
and intonations.
For whom?
At what age should be learning of a
foreign language begin? This is a topical subject among
teachers and educators who generally want nursery school
children to be exposed to foreign languages. This is
the ideal age to "open the ear": the small
child has an ear which is capable of integrating all
the sound worlds, both of his mother tongue and that
of a foreign language.
* Adolescents
"A student who has difficulty
in learning a foreign language is in the same position
as a child who is not able to write, read and speak
in his mother tongue. He is "dyslexic"
- in other words he has difficulty listening.
Thanks to the Electronic Listening
Device, we can help adolescents open their ear to the
sounds of the chosen language to be integrated. In the
same way the behaviour of the adolescent will also change.
With the extraordinary developments
in communication, the growth of international exchanges
we should do the utmost to give our children the opportunity
to be able to communicate in several languages.
*Adults
Whether people come for professional
or personal reasons, we need to take several precautions
in order to make sure adults adopt an open minded approach
to these new audio-vocal techniques.
Two ideas need stressing: "firstly,
the mother language is a barrier which it is necessary
to get past, secondly, that one listens before speaking
and only after does one study language structure.
Learning to speak a language means
adopting a particular mental psychology, and adopting
a specific thought process and adjusting the body in
such a way that is adopts the posture of the language
spoken. Having a gift for languages is in reality a
gift for listening.
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