The Benefits of Therapeutic Bone Conduction

"Therapeutic" matters more than you may think

My unique approach as a Certified Provider of The Listening Program (TLP)
combines science-based music therapy,
time-tested Montessori principles applied to children and adults,
and conscious celebrations.

I’m often asked why The Listening Program (TLP) doesn’t allow for use of one of the many inexpensive bone conduction headphones available commercially. Here’s my long answer.

Intensity

I really like Costco hot dogs. On a long road trip, one or two of those can hit the spot. At the same time, I'm not a big soda drinker. So what usually happens after eating at the Food Court is:

• I fall asleep as soon as we get back on the interstate.

• I stay asleep, digesting my Costco hot dog(s).

• I wake up to watered-down soda.

And watered-down soda doesn't taste good.

Just like the soda gets watered down when the ice melts into it, sound is diluted as it passes through our outer ear, then our middle ear, and finally into our inner ear.

The inner ear is where the exciting events happen. If you've ever studied anatomy, you'll likely remember that the inner ear houses the cochlea, the memorable spiral-shaped organ. In the cochlea is fluid, which makes waves when hit by the vibrations of sound. These vibrations then stimulate tiny hairs inside the cochlea, setting off a chain of events that end in the creation of electrical signals, which travel to the brain via the auditory nerve.

What's amazing about this process is that different sound frequencies stimulate the hair cells in distinct parts of the cochlea. These stimulated hair cells create specific electrical signals, which affect precise parts of the brain. Therefore, we can target brain areas - and brain functioning - through the use of particular frequencies in music therapy.

Since bone conduction bypasses the outer and middle ear, sound via bone conduction directly stimulates the cochlear hair cells in an undiluted manner. When bone conduction is used properly for a therapeutic intent, there's no watered-down sound! Full intensity stimulation = better and faster outcomes.

Timing

Have you ever watched something where the audio and video weren't in sync? The lips of the talking head don't match up perfectly with the soundtrack. My reaction ranges from annoyance to just watching something else.

The passage of sound through the outer and middle ears to the inner ear dilutes that sound - and it also takes time. This means that the inner ear receives weaker and later stimulation than that received by the outer and middle ears. With air conduction only, the poor inner ear always get the sound leftovers.

Bone conduction solves the problem of diluted sound stimulation. But only properly-placed bone conduction solves the problem of timing.

For therapeutic purposes, the goal is for the entire auditory processing system (outer, middle, and inner ears) to be stimulated at the same time. Most commercially available bone conduction headphones* stimulate either 1) the mastoid process of the temporal bones - the prominent bone projections located behind your earlobes, or 2) your cheekbones, directly and only affecting your inner ear. These headphones don't provide sound to your outer and middle ears at all.

*(judging by the first 15 pages of this product of a popular online retailer)

The Listening Program achieves this desirable simultaneous stimulation by its exclusive bone-and-air conduction system. Rather than vibrating your mastoid process or your cheekbones, TLP's system vibrates the parietal bone at the top of your skull. This makes the vibrations reach your inner ear through your skull bones at the same time that the vibrations are passing through your outer and middle ears.

No being off-sync to annoy your brain!

Beauty

We are taught from a very young age that we hear through our ears. However, we actually have two natural modes of hearing: through air conduction and bone conduction. It makes sense logically that by employing both modes at the same time, we experience the full richness of a piece of music.

Though anecdotal, here's something worth noting: a woman I know well, who is very familiar with The Listening Program, has listened extensively to the music through TLP-approved air-conduction-only headphones and using our bone-and-air-conduction system. She shared with me that the music is noticeably more beautiful with bone and air conduction.

This alone is a valid reason to choose the dual-mode system. When something is pleasurable, we are more likely to continue doing it. For myself, I honestly look forward to my own listening every weekday morning. It's a peaceful time for me to think, dream, plan. It's a easy habit that I can see being lifelong for me.

And while we're on the topic . . .

Have you heard that Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) continued to compose beautiful classical music, though he was deaf? It is well accepted that he began to lose his hearing while in his late 20s and that he was mostly deaf by his 40s.

But did you know that Beethoven used bone conduction to hear his music? Austrian pianist, composer, and teacher Carl Czerny (1791-1857), who studied under Beethoven for three years, commented that his teacher would compose while feeling the piano. We can thank Beethoven's innovative use of bone conduction for his extensive and beautiful gift of music, written throughout his lifetime.

The Right Tools

Therapeutic music in and of itself is good, valuable, and a necessary component of effective music therapy. But if music therapy isn’t done well, it can actually be harmful.

A colleague of mine spoke with a mom had been deciding between The Listening Program and a different music therapy protocol for her son of elementary-school age. Though they followed that protocol's guidelines, the child's behavior tragically spiraled downward: now biting and kicking her, his emotions had become completely disregulated. He was significantly worse than before. The mom came to my colleague, hoping TLP would help her son. Though it wasn't what the mom wanted to hear, my colleague compassionately told her to come back in several months after his brain had taken a rest.

When dealing with the brain and musical therapeutic approaches, choose wisely. It matters.