Auditory integration training (AIT), created by Berard,1 uses sound to enhance inner ear processes that stimulate auditory reorganization and increase efficiency of processing, which theoretically manifests in improved behaviors, and social, motor, and academic performance. Dr. Berard believes “everything happens as if human behavior were largely conditioned by the manner in which one hears”. AIT uses music electronically modified by randomly alternating low and high sound frequencies to stimulate auditory system reorganization. Berard’s work was influenced by his colleague, Dr. Alfred Tomatis. Tomatis, a French physician who pioneered the understanding of the impact of modified auditory techniques on human functioning, also identified the ear as a powerful integrator that could facilitate brain organization at all levels within the nervous system.
The impact of audition and vestibular stimulation on brainstem function was a primary interest of Dr. Jean Ayres.3 Ayres identified the brain’s processing of sound as an essential form of sensory integration and proposed that vestibular– auditory processing influences both survival and discriminative functions.
According to Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself, neuroplasticity means that the nerve cells in our brains and nervous systems are changeable, or can modify themselves. Neuroplasticity enables us to continue learning at any age, or to create new connections to take over weakened functions. We can rewire or reorganize our brains.
The actual structure and function of the brain change through the course of our lives. There is no medical treatment involved. It is a natural phenomenon that occurs within the brain. The requirement for triggering this phenomenon of neuroplasticity is exposure to an activity with intensity, frequency, and duration.
