Part 2 sets out a sensory model for the production and perception of speech that includes bodily sensation as well as ear-based hearing. There are also exercises for developing acoustic sensitivity.
Almost all of Part 2 has been put up on the ‘Articles’ page as ‘Hearing Exercises’. For those who purchase 'Organic Language' I will gradually make extra material available on this site.
An interesting correlation with the importance of bodily sensation in hearing is the fact that in Chinese acupuncture there are 50 or 60 acupuncture points located on the pinna (the visible, external part of the human ear). These points are used to induce anaesthesia in the varous parts of the body.
It sounds incredible to the westerner, but this form of anaesthesia is often used in China and other parts of Asia for operations and childbirth. (I am a believer, but I think I would still ask for the gas as well!) |
Note that the points on the ear correspond to a picture of a human foetus with the head at the bottom (the lobe), and the legs above, tucked up in the foetal position.
The subliminal perception of echoes is an important factor in understanding what I call ‘acoustic hearing’. In Part 4, references are given that explain how a newbon baby hears a multitude of echoes constantly. As the auditory functions of the brain develop, the minute echoes are removed from conscious perception — the adult is still hearing these echoes, but our brains interpret the repeated sounds as resonance, not echoes.
In recent years there have been many cases of blind people who have been able to reawaken these perceptions, so as to perceive their environment through echo location: by making clicks or tapping their canes, the perception of echoes is mapped onto the visual-spatial areas of the brain, so as to produce a perception of space and the objects within it.
A simple Google search of ‘echolocation for blind people’ brings up heaps of references and videos.
Organic Language Extra 1 Extra 3