Today, when flirting with Chiebukuro, I stumbled upon a question called "利き耳ってありますか?" , to which, to my big astonishment, somebody answered "あります" .

I looked the topic up on google, and found this article:

http://www.tomatis.com/English/Articles/...isten.html .

It deals with many ear concerning topics (which are interesting, but probably don't belong here) and also about the influence of ears on learning and language learning (which I believe does belong here) in general.

For more on languages, there's also this article http://www.tomatis.com/English/Articles/languages.htm

Both articles contain some basic, yet interesting information, which may make you want to look at it in more detailed scope.

Just thought I'd share.

Yeah, I've heard before that the right ear is the one that you learn better from, and the left is more aesthetic, or something like that. There was some study where they showed that information and instructions spoken to someone's right ear were remembered/followed more accurately than when spoken to the left ear.

So then combining the 2 studies, if your left ear is your dominant ear, you should be doing your language studies with only your right ear, so you have no choice about how to hear it.

Or maybe it doesn't really matter all that much, and it's just a meaningless coincidence.

Quote:Our ears give us energy. Our ears play an important role in stimulating the brain. Tomatis says it this way: "The ear can be compared to a dynamo (a powerful motor) which transforms the stimulations it receives into neurological energy intended to feed the brain." When the brain is well "charged", there seems to be no lack of energy to innovate, imagine or create. However, not all sounds act alike:

High frequency sounds energize the brain, creating what Tomatis calls "charging sounds".

Low frequency sounds drain energy away and tend to wear us out. They make our bodies move, by activating the semicircular canals of the vestibule. If those sounds keep on going, our bodies keep moving to the point of exhaustion. This effect can be observed easily in people listening to rock or rap music.

Most children or adults with a good musical ear get plenty of "Ear Energy", and rarely experience low energy or feelings of depression. On the other hand, hyperactive children may be moving around constantly in an attempt to "charge" their brain through vestibular activities. People whose brains don’t "charge" well are likely to be at a disadvantage when confronted with the many challenges they face in a fast-paced society like ours.

I would be careful in trusting a site that says stuff like this. I'm not sure this reflects the state of scientific research on hearing .

Transparent_Aluminium Wrote:

Quote:Our ears give us energy. Our ears play an important role in stimulating the brain. Tomatis says it this way: "The ear can be compared to a dynamo (a powerful motor) which transforms the stimulations it receives into neurological energy intended to feed the brain." When the brain is well "charged", there seems to be no lack of energy to innovate, imagine or create. However, not all sounds act alike:

High frequency sounds energize the brain, creating what Tomatis calls "charging sounds".

Low frequency sounds drain energy away and tend to wear us out. They make our bodies move, by activating the semicircular canals of the vestibule. If those sounds keep on going, our bodies keep moving to the point of exhaustion. This effect can be observed easily in people listening to rock or rap music.

Most children or adults with a good musical ear get plenty of "Ear Energy", and rarely experience low energy or feelings of depression. On the other hand, hyperactive children may be moving around constantly in an attempt to "charge" their brain through vestibular activities. People whose brains don’t "charge" well are likely to be at a disadvantage when confronted with the many challenges they face in a fast-paced society like ours.

I would be careful in trusting a site that says stuff like this. I'm not sure this reflects the state of scientific research on hearing .

It's based of Dr. Tomatis's research (40 years + apparently ?) his theory was based on virtuosos that lost certain frequency components. But I'm not sure if this has any actual language learning application, it may or may not. I haven't read all the science about it though. It sounds interesting, I'll read it another time

Using two ears FTW.

vosmiura Wrote:Using two ears FTW.

You only use two ears?

liosama Wrote:It's based of Dr. Tomatis's research (40 years + apparently ?) his theory was based on virtuosos that lost certain frequency components. But I'm not sure if this has any actual language learning application, it may or may not. I haven't read all the science about it though. It sounds interesting, I'll read it another time

But, Tomatis's research wasn't scientific research at all. It was just a lot of speculation for 40 years, with no legit studies.

It seems like there were two real studies done by other people. The first of the two tested his theory on disabled children. It was done by John Kershner with 26 subjects, some of which were part of a placebo group. It showed no evidence in favor of Tomatis's theory.

The second was done just two years ago, after Tomatis's death, by the University of California. The study, done with autistic children, showed that the placebo group actually benefited more than the children using Tomatis's method.

There was also a thesis written for INSERM, a French public organization which is part of its Ministry of Health, which argued that Tomatis's ideas weren't a coherent theoretical model because they relied too heavily on things like 'magic thought' and 'intuition.'

In other words, seems like a bunch'a crap to me. (Incidentally, the language of the website really does give away what a load of bull it is)

blackmacros Wrote:

vosmiura Wrote:Using two ears FTW.

You only use two ears?

I did actually read about a week ago (on ScienceDaily I think) that some studies showed that people are more likely to do as you ask if you talk into their right ear.

Tzadeck Wrote:

liosama Wrote:It's based of Dr. Tomatis's research (40 years + apparently ?) his theory was based on virtuosos that lost certain frequency components. But I'm not sure if this has any actual language learning application, it may or may not. I haven't read all the science about it though. It sounds interesting, I'll read it another time

But, Tomatis's research wasn't scientific research at all. It was just a lot of speculation for 40 years, with no legit studies.

It seems like there were two real studies done by other people. The first of the two tested his theory on disabled children. It was done by John Kershner with 26 subjects, some of which were part of a placebo group. It showed no evidence in favor of Tomatis's theory.

The second was done just two years ago, after Tomatis's death, by the University of California. The study, done with autistic children, showed that the placebo group actually benefited more than the children using Tomatis's method.

There was also a thesis written for INSERM, a French public organization which is part of its Ministry of Health, which argued that Tomatis's ideas weren't a coherent theoretical model because they relied too heavily on things like 'magic thought' and 'intuition.'

In other words, seems like a bunch'a crap to me. (Incidentally, the language of the website really does give away what a load of bull it is)

Yeah a skim through google books; most of the book titles that featured explanations on his theory were titled in things like "Alternative Med"
etc

But I mean, I recall a thread here ages back talking about how certain colors affect your mood, so why not certain frequencies of sound?

It's good to be very skeptical of all psychological related findings and studies since the possibility for mis-interpretation of data is almost inevitable

So there are many studies suggesting that in order to learn you should use your 2 ears to listen?
Surprising!

Uh oh, I've quite often been listening with the left earpiece only. I wonder if I should be using right ear, or both...

blackmacros Wrote:I did actually read about a week ago (on ScienceDaily I think) that some studies showed that people are more likely to do as you ask if you talk into their right ear.

hmm I think I'll have to reconsider which side of the bed I sleep on...

Thora Wrote:

blackmacros Wrote:I did actually read about a week ago (on ScienceDaily I think) that some studies showed that people are more likely to do as you ask if you talk into their right ear.

hmm I think I'll have to reconsider which side of the bed I sleep on...

Better yet, don't sleep with people who learn dating skils from sleazy bastardizations of the pseudoscientific 'neurolinguistic programming'. If nothing else, because they'll be too busy wooing you with 'pacing and leading' and one-sided pillow talk to make a decent lover.

This stuff looks like pseudo science to me. A quick check in JSTOR's academic literature bank (I skimmed some abstracts) shows nothing directly related to this topic. It's like people who take Freud seriously, despite the fact he just made up everything without any objective measurements.

nest0r Wrote:Better yet, don't sleep with people who learn dating skils from sleazy bastardizations of the pseudoscientific 'neurolinguistic programming'. If nothing else, because they'll be too busy wooing you with 'pacing and leading' and one-sided pillow talk to make a decent lover.

Rofl