Listening far away. The Phys Ed. of hearing.
With four exercises for better listening skills.
For most of us, hearing is limited to our immediate surroundings (our phones, music, the TV in front of us, the work meeting, and the occasional loud car on the expressway nearby). Progress also comes at a sensorial cost. However, hearing can extend beyond our immediacy. This post is a continuation of my sporadic series on the Physical Education of the Senses. It is a story about an auditory exercise experience and a few ideas for you to practice. Can you hear me? Hit the like button, leave a comment, and subscribe (it's free).
In my early twenties, I was a Karate practitioner with a dream of developing ninja-like abilities, including a greater sense of hearing. But that was all in my head, and I thought that only in the movies could people do those shinobi feats. That was until, one day, during a class, the sensei gave us an exercise that changed my perception of the auditory sense. After this, I became a little more convinced that perhaps these kinds of skills weren't only limited to films, or that what we see in acting isn't necessarily an exaggeration of reality.
The Sensei ordered everyone to lie on their backs, turned off the lights, and told us to close our eyes and remain quiet. "Just focus on not making any noise and take deep but slow breaths", he said. He then directed us to focus on listening to our breathing. Now, this event was more than twenty years ago, which means I don't remember every detail, but then I heard something like, “Now, pick the sound of a passing car and follow it as far as you can. Try not to lose it.”
To provide context, the dojo was situated on a main commercial avenue where hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles passed by every day, and the class coincided with peak traffic time. It was noisy, so concentrating was a difficult task.
It took me a few tries, but I was finally able to follow a car’s sound for about a quarter of a mile. Not that I was measuring with precision, but for some reason I felt like I was seeing the car as it drove away. Also, I grew up in that area, and had an idea of the businesses the car was passing as it drove by. The next step of this exercise was to find the furthest sounds we could, in the middle of peak traffic, and isolate them.
In this exercise, I experienced a greater sense of spatial awareness. I was in sync with all the noise around me, but it didn't bother me. I joined the auditory current and navigate through it with ease, still aware of the sensei's instruction, my breath, and the breathing of others. Almost as if I could hear one single drop out of millions under the rain and still listen to it (the rain) as a whole.
Was I echolocating? I don't know, but more than developing this new ability, it was as if I was reawakening it. It felt as if the bubble I lived in expanded, and I was able to hear my surroundings more clearly. This is something that I remember sensing as a kid while playing outside with my brother and friends.
This was an amazing exercise and one that I still practice. But you don't have to be a trained martial artist to develop that capacity. Why? Because you already have it. We all have it. Granted, of course, that you don't suffer an auditory impairment.
I taught it to my wife years ago, and she couldn't believe it. She was able to hear sounds from a distance she never thought possible. I've also taught it to personal training clients of all ages, with good feedback. They all felt a greater sense of movement confidence (fitness) that you can't get with the typical fitness approaches, and yet, hearing involves movement1.
When we let our ears (and attention) only catch what's near, well, that's what we hear. This narrow audition is a form of selective hearing. We tend to focus on what's closest to us. But perhaps we can expand our selections a little further. It is said that hearing exercises or auditory training can improve memory, attention, and communication2.
Since that exercise, I have been able to catch sounds that, while distant and dampened by noise or voices, I would never hear. But remember that most people are born with this capacity. It is part of our DNA. Hearing is a primitive survival mechanism. We hear whether to flee from danger, intensify a pleasurable experience, or communicate.
We hear on many frequencies. The more we practice distance hearing, the more aware we become of our surroundings. This practice encompasses the intricate connection between breathing, hearing, spatial perception, memory, motor behavior, and self-confidence.
When we are more aware of our surroundings, we feel safer and more at ease, with a quicker reaction to sudden changes.
So, besides the example above, here are some ideas you can try to improve or reawaken your hearing:
Identifying sounds. Sit or stand still (hopefully outside) and take a few deep breaths. Get out of your head and listen to what's happening around you. Try to identify as many sounds as possible from as close as and as far as possible.
Take your time and be patient. Believe it or not, finding silence in our heads is not easy. Often, the problem is not the external noise but the one we carry in our heads.
Take a walk in the woods. Walking in nature comes up a lot in this newsletter (especially in this series), but it is worth bringing it up. Nature is a multisensory stimulant and a good one at that. While this is a hearing exercise, this sensory ability works in coordination with other senses, and the more you allow them to synchronize naturally, the more each sense benefits. Find a trail and leave the headphones. As you go into the wilderness and go past the fear of the unknown, you'll notice that you'll be able to hear nature. The trees, the wind, the water, the birds, and everything else.
Often, I think of sensory digression (going back to nature) as a great way to improve functional fitness. Rather than learning these new abilities, we return to what we came to this world with.
Embrace movement. It turns out that the ability to move our heads and ears not only results in more physical activity but also helps us identify sounds and even hear others. This type of movement tends to be subconscious and is the manifestation of a natural self-tuning response to sound. Without movement, our hearing tends to diminish.
Relax your body and let your head and ears follow the sounds as if they were satellite dishes adjusting to the different frequencies they receive.
Practice these ideas and let me know about your experience. The before and after. How far were you able to hear?
Higgins, N. C., Pupo, D. A., Ozmeral, E. J., & Eddins, D. A. (2023). Head movement and its relation to hearing. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1183303
Auditory training can improve working memory, attention, and communication in adverse conditions for adults with hearing loss. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4447061/