The emerging field of sound training

Sound stimulation impacts 20th century human life in myriad ways, from sonic booms to the high-quality technological capture and delivery of music and voice through a variety of media. This article describes the emerging field of "Sound Training", which is a newly proposed name that encompasses the current and evolving sound-based technologies and methodologies. The applications of these technologies are many, with current uses in education, health, and human development. Sound training and its technology are based on the observations that (1) people of all ages can be trained to process incoming sound more effectively and that (2) many people have weaknesses or problems in their ability to process sound (listening disabilities), which affects them in a multitude of ways. Sound-training technology consists of equipment and materials that have been designed to produce specific effects in the listener when following recommended methods. In educational, business, and clinical settings worldwide, sound stimulation is used with different types of individuals (e.g., those with learning disabilities or developmental delays, or those with a desire to learn a second language or to sing better) to achieve a host of performance goals that have listening as their foundational skill.