Johansen Sound Therapy JIAS

Johansen sound therapy, or Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation (JIAS) as it is now known, is a home-based therapy which involves listening to music file download once a day for 10 – 15 minutes. On average, a course of therapy will take about nine months.

The purpose of the therapy is to stimulate auditory neural pathways to improve auditory processing. Auditory processing is the interpretation of sounds heard by the brain, and the correct decoding of the information heard, rather than how the sound gets from the ear to the brain. (See more information on auditory processing here.) Because of the brain’s plasticity – the ability of the synaptic networks in the brain to be modified and changed – it is possible to ‘re-mould’ auditory processing pathways.

The specific stimulation of auditory networks provided by the Johansen programme has several benefits. Discrimination of sounds can be enhanced.  For example, the differences in words can be recognised and not assumed to be the same such as ‘f’ and ‘th’. The ability to concentrate on or localise a sound by choice and not be distracted by background noise or sensitivities to certain sounds or their frequencies can be ‘normalised’ with JIAS. The programme has also demonstrated de-stressing properties, which can be of great benefit in those with auditory processing difficulties for whom the world can be a very noisy, distracting and challenging place.

By enhancing interpretation of the detail of sound, concentration, attention and listening skills are improved allowing efficient learning to take place.

Research has now shown a strong relationship between the neural networks used to process language and music. Pitch, rhythm, timing, speed and the pattern perception for music and language have shared networks. Stimulation of auditory pathways has also been shown by research to be an integral part of speech, language and literacy development.

The Johansen programme can be used in children as young as three. There is no upper age limit for this therapy.

The Johansen music

The Johansen programme was developed by Dr Kjeld Johansen over forty years ago. Together with musician, Bent-Peder Holbech, a set of base pieces of synthesised music were put together. The JIAS music is composed so as to specifically stimulate different frequencies, in turn, over the course of the therapy.

The key composition is called Waves and there are seven different basic compositions derived from this key one. Each of these is made up of specific bands of frequencies ranging from 200Hz to 16,000Hz – the total frequencies over which human speech is heard. When a client is assessed for therapy, the information gleaned from the assessments done is used to customise the download that is made. This means that the recording produced is specific to that client’s listening and learning needs.

There are also other combinations of the Waves compositions, which can be used in the JIAS programme, and special effects, which can be added to the basic composition to stimulate or modify different aspects of listening. A new set of music, which uses acoustic instrumentation, has recently been added to the repertoire.

The JIAS programme is used in 25 countries world-wide.

Format for listening

The download is listened to for ten minutes every day. It is useful to establish a routine and listen at the same time every day. Many children listen in bed at the end of the day.

Whilst listening to the music, you should not eat or drink, or talk or watch screens of any sort (including iPhones, iPads) or read and write. This is because any ‘language-based’ activity completes for auditory processing.

For some children such inactivity is an issue, so playing with Lego, colouring in or simple puzzles can be done.