The Forbrain device is an essential element of our auditory stimulation therapy.
Imagine the sound of a knock at the door. Can you hear it? Now, imagine placing your ear on the door and then listening to the knock again. Which is louder? Which is clearer?
Even though the amplitude of the knocking doesn’t change, the material through which the sound travels does. Listening to a sound through air is measurably different than through a solid, precisely what the Forbrain device utilizes.
The Forbrain device is an essential element of our auditory stimulation therapy. It is worn similarly to a regular headset with a microphone, but some say it goes on like “backward sunglasses.” One crucial difference, however, is the earpieces, aka transducers. Instead of being placed on one’s ear, they are placed on the child’s temporal bone. The microphone then picks up the child’s voice and relays it directly into their auditory cortex, the hearing part of the brain, using bone conductivity. This way, the sound travels through a solid, bypassing the middle ear altogether! This is especially helpful if a child has a history of ear infections, surgeries, or any other developmental challenges with the ear.
Because the child’s own voice is heard for the first time, a period of adjustment, sometimes even a moment of tearful joy, ensues. Our therapy starts with a few games to adjust to the new auditory sensations, then a scaffolded program of phonemic differentiation, sequencing and manipulation follow. Reading is only possible when sounds are correctly differentiated in the auditory cortex. We literally “read with our ears!” By combining this device with a prescriptive phonological therapy, neuro-remapping is possible.
This therapy also helps with speech, attention and memory. It helps with speech by correctly differentiating phonemes (the smallest units of sound) in the brain. The speech system can then correctly formulate and pronounce the phonemes. Attention is crucial for memory, and the brain requires stimuli to sustain attention. Attention and memory are trained by providing a cascade of neurostimulation, starting with the transmission of the higher frequencies of the voice, which provides an essential component of neurostimulation therapy.
By tapping into the brain’s natural ability to form new neurons, auditory stimulation therapy trains the brain to read, annunciate, pay attention, and remember. This is neuroplasticity at its finest!
