Frequently Asked Questions
Click on the text for more information on:
What is the background of the Georgiana Institute?
What is Auditory Integration Training?
Is there a possible explanation for the effects of AIT?
What is the treatment protocol for Auditory Integration Training?
What learning disabilities or medical conditions benefit from AIT?
Is it possible to obtain insurance coverage for AIT?
What is the difference between the Berard and the Tomatis methods?
What is the background of the Georgiana Institute?
Children and adults with learning difficulties, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, autism and pervasive developmental delay have benefited from AIT. An estimated 20% of the population suffer from distortions in hearing or sensitivity to certain sounds which can contribute to inappropriate or anti-social behavior, irritability, lethargy, impulsivity, restlessness, high tension levels and problems with language and reading. Improvements reported after receiving AIT include more appropriate affect, expression and interaction, better articulation and auditory comprehension and an overall increase in academic and social skills.
AIT first received international recognition with the publication of The Sound of a Miracle, A Child's Triumph Over Autism by Annabel Stehli (Doubleday, New York, 1991). Condensed as the book section of the December, 1990 Reader's Digest, it continues to circulate worldwide in English and in translation. Media coverage has been extensive as has scientific validation of AIT through research conducted by professionals in the field of special needs.
From April, 1992 through July, 1993 the Georgiana Institute conducted seminars in Westport, CT at which Guy Berard, M.D., who developed AIT in France, taught its theory and practice to professionals involved with sensory and behavioral therapies. In August, 1993, the FDA intervened in the marketing of the French AIT machine in this country, eventually ruling that it was a medical device which would require FDA approval. Finally, in October 1998, the manufacturer of a new AIT system called Digital Auditory Aerobics (DAA) received a letter from the FDA stating "the product is not a device subject to FDA regulation." Since this new system provides an exact replication of the auditory output of the AudioKinetron, we believe use of the new device will produce the same favorable results as those achieved with the French equipment. Active marketing of the DAA equipment by Peak Performance Group (PPG). throughout the U.S. to existing and newly qualified AIT practitioners began in January, 1999 so that AIT should become increasingly available and accepted in coming years.
Many articles and studies on AIT have been published since 1992 in "ADVANCE for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists," "American Journal of Audiology," and "American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology." In addition, summaries written by Drs. Edelson and Rimland of 23 research reports on AIT give excellent information on the efficacy of the therapy.
The focus of attention of The Institute is not only on AIT but on other cutting edge, research-phase therapies, many of which are highlighted in Dancing in the Rain, Stories of Exceptional Progress by Parents of Children with Special Needs, edited by Annabel Stehli.
What is Auditory Integration Training?
Now also known as Digital Auditory Aerobics (DAA)
Essentially, AIT is a mechanical means of achieving an improvement in auditory discrimination through an intensive form of music therapy.
Guy Berard, M.D., the French otolaryngologist who developed the therapy in France over the last four decades, explains AIT: From the eardrum to the brain cells, zones exist which correspond to low-pitched and high-pitched tones. If one or the other of these zones is stimulated by certain programmed alternating sounds, an improvement in the overall functioning of the sensory processing system may result. Audiometric examinations carried out in thousands of cases, before and after AIT, have confirmed these findings. Where audiometric testing is not possible, which may happen in many cases with very young children or those unable to communicate, changes in behavior and ability to communicate after AIT have been reported and documented by research. In cases where audiometric testing indicates certain frequencies on which hearing is hyperacute, those frequencies may be filtered during AIT. The auditory system reacts by reducing the degree of hyperacute hearing on the troublesome frequencies. The audiometric curve tends to flatten and hearing is normalized, maintaining the former frequency differentiations but eliminating the hyperacute areas.
A Possible Explanation for the Effects of AIT
Extensive research with animals has shown that the brain has a huge capacity to shift thresholds and rearrange circuits. When certain frequencies which distort the hearing are filtered, the resulting flattening of the auditory test may be explained by a threshold shift which occurs centrally inside the brain. Research studies have shown that in order for the nervous system to develop normally, it must receive sensory input. Sensory input stimulates the formation of new circuits. Even though this “plasticity” is more extensive in a child, the adult nervous system still has the ability to form new circuits.
It has been found that cortical areas of the brain which receive sensory input expand and areas which are deprived of input shrink. The somatosensory cortex of monkeys has been mapped and it has been determined that each finger on the monkey's hand has a specific area in the brain which receives sensory input from it. If one finger is removed, the cortical areas allocated to the adjoining fingers will invade the cortical area which belongs to the missing finger. The missing finger loses its cortical brain area. This mechanism may be a possible explanation for AIT. When a specific frequency is filtered, the auditory cortex may reorganize.
Medical researchers have also demonstrated the great ability of the central nervous system to reorganize. Crossing the main nerves in a monkey’s forearm will send scrambled messages to the brain. The brain is then able to reorganize its circuits and the monkey can recover near normal use of the arm.
At the mechanical level, it seems likely that AIT exercises the muscles controlling the three ossicles, the small bones found in the middle ear. The treatment apparently strengthens the muscles and improves the reaction involved in the prevention of sensory overload.
How is Auditory Integration Training Applied?
The system called Digital Auditory Aerobics (DAA) consists of 20 CDs, each with a duration of exactly 30 minutes and each containing music with a very wide frequency spectrum. Played through large, heavily cushioned headphones, the modulation of the music on each CD is an exact replication of the output produced by the AudioKinetron, a machine used for AIT for decades with excellent results. By means of audiometric testing using a standard audiometer, it can, in some cases, be determined at what frequencies a person has hyperacute and/or hypoacute hearing. If such an auditory test is possible, then one or two of the frequencies at which hearing is most acute may be filtered. Where an accurate auditory test cannot be obtained, the basic modulation system recorded on each CD may be used without setting specific frequency filters. A different volume setting for each ear may be set as indicated.
The treatment consists of 20 half-hour sessions administered twice a day over a total period of ten days. AIT may be repeated after a minimum waiting period of six months.
The Need for AIT
Distortions in auditory discrimination are present in many common learning disabilities such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and in many more complex problems such as autism, and pervasive developmental delay. In addition, it has been found that AIT has sometimes proved useful in arresting progressive deafness.
Possible Insurance Coverage of AIT
Insurance coverage for AIT is generally available under the presently existing International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) insurance codes. The diagnosis calling for AIT is “Impairment of Auditory Discrimination,” ICD 388.43, “Abnormal Auditory Perception,” ICD 388.40 or “Hyperacute Hearing,”ICD 388.42. The treatment CPT codes are 92507, “Language/Hearing Therapy” or 92510, “Aural Rehabilitation.”
For more information please contact The Georgiana Institute.
What is the difference between the Berard and the Tomatis methods?
The following is an excerpt from
The Conclusion of Improving the Auditory Functioning of Autistic Persons: A Comparison of the Berard Auditory Training Approach with the Tomatis Audio-Psycho-Phonology Approach by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Autism Research Institute, San Diego, and Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D.
DISCUSSION AND COMMENT
We have some concerns about the Tomatis Approach which we would like to share. These concerns are heightened by the rather aggressive efforts by a number of Tomatis practitioners to recruit autistic children as clients.
1. Irrelevance of Tomatis training. The recovery of Georgie and the improvement of a number of other autistic persons appears to be a consequence of Berard's intentional reduction of the auditory sensitivity of these individuals. So far as we have been able to determine, nowhere in the writing of Tomatis does he address the central problem of reducing hyper-sensitive hearing. It thus seems as though proprietors of Tomatis Listening Centres are opportunistically marketing services that are irrelevant to the issue. The claim made by some Tomatis practitioners of an 80% to 85% improvement in autistic patients has no empirical foundation.
2. Psychological emphasis of the Tomatis training. We are disturbed by the fact that Tomatis Centres are billed as “Listening Centres” and place heavy stress of psychological-emotional factors. Autism is a brain disorder which has no demonstrated relationship to the mother’s voice as heard by the fetus before birth. That is pure, unfounded, unlikely speculation. This aspect of the Tomatis approach is repugnant. Blaming the mothers for causing harm to the child, albeit unintentional harm, is a concept which is dead and should be buried. We believe that Tomatis should state his current position on this point precisely, if he no longer blames the mother. In any case, it is a poor premise on which to base therapy.
3. Duration and cost of Tomatis training. As noted above, Tomatis experts have long claimed that autism requires 150-200 hours of auditory training over a 6- to 12-month period. This is obviously very expensive, intrusive and time-consuming. Now that the Berard approach is known to accomplish auditory training in 10 hours, over a 10-day period, a number of Tomatis practitioners claim to be able to do the Tomatis method for autistic children in 10 to 12 days, at 2 ½ to 3 hours per day. One must be suspicious of this sudden discovery.
The present writers feel that the Tomatis organization is obliged to sponsor quality research, by independent research specialists, to evaluate the effectiveness of the &ldquoAudio-Psycho-Phonological” approach. Families are entitled to empirical data, not more theories and statements based on faith.
Reprinted from
The Autism Research Review International,
Vol. 5, Issue 3,1991
For a full copy of the report, contact ARI.
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The Georgiana Institute, Inc.
A Nonprofit Organization
Annabel Stehli, President
90 Murdock Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801 USA
Text messages only:(203)994-8215
Phone or in-person consultations at the Institute, speaking engagements and interviews may be requested by text.
Since 1998 The Georgiana Institute has been designated a non-profit organization, tax-exempt under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, ID#06-1500430. Contributions are tax deductible.
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This page updated July 20, 2025