Auditory integration training (AIT) is a listening-based therapy in which a person wears headphones and listens to electronically modified music over a series of sessions. The music is filtered and randomized by a specialized device to alter its frequency and volume patterns. The idea is that this stimulation can retrain the way the ear and brain process sound, particularly for people who are hypersensitive or undersensitive to certain frequencies. AIT is most commonly associated with autism spectrum disorders, though practitioners have applied it to learning disabilities, attention difficulties, and depression.
How AIT Was Developed
AIT was created by Guy Berard, a French ear, nose, and throat physician. Berard’s core premise was that some people have hypersensitive hearing at specific frequencies, and that this sensitivity causes agitation, pain, and interference with learning. He also observed that even people without obvious hearing problems can have uneven hearing profiles, with certain frequencies heard much more loudly or quietly than neighboring ones. Berard theorized that these “peaks and valleys” in hearing distort how a person perceives everyday sound, contributing to behavioral issues ranging from hyperactivity to aggression.
AIT first gained wide attention in the United States through the 1991 book Sound of a Miracle, which described a child with autism whose symptoms reportedly resolved after treatment. Berard later published his own book, Hearing Equals Behavior, laying out his theory that correcting auditory distortions could improve a broad range of conditions.
What Happens During Treatment
A standard course of Berard AIT consists of 20 sessions spread over 10 consecutive working days, with a weekend break in between. Each day includes two 30-minute listening sessions separated by at least three hours. During each session, you sit with headphones on while a device plays music that has been electronically altered in two key ways.
First, a graphic equalizer reduces specific frequencies by up to 40 decibels. If an audiogram shows that you hear certain pitches much more sharply than others, a practitioner can set filters to dampen those frequencies. Second, the device randomizes the music’s volume and pitch, splitting it into alternating bursts of high and low frequencies and loud and quiet passages. The result is an unpredictable listening experience meant to “exercise” the ear’s muscles and the auditory nervous system, similar in concept to how physical therapy retrains muscles after an injury.
Before and after the 20 sessions, practitioners typically take audiograms to measure whether the person’s hearing profile has evened out, and they track behavioral changes at various follow-up intervals.
Devices Used in AIT
Berard originally designed a device called the Audiokinetron (also known as the Ears Education and Retraining System). It is no longer manufactured. A U.S.-made replica called the BGC device was also produced for a time but is similarly discontinued. Two devices still in use are the Earducator, an older hardware-based system favored by many Berard practitioners, and the Filtered Sound Training (FST) system, a newer computer-based option that some providers offer for supervised at-home sessions. Another hardware device called the DAA (Digital Auditory Aerobics) replicates the output of the original Audiokinetron.
The FDA has stated that if the Audiokinetron is used solely as an educational aid, it is not classified as a medical device and falls outside FDA regulation. This distinction matters because it means AIT devices have not gone through the approval process required for medical equipment.
Who Uses AIT
AIT has been applied most often to children on the autism spectrum, particularly those who show strong reactions to everyday sounds, like covering their ears, screaming in response to noises, or appearing deaf to sounds others hear easily. These responses can reflect auditory hypersensitivity (sounds feel painfully loud or overwhelming) or hyposensitivity (sounds don’t register normally), and AIT is intended to normalize that processing.
Beyond autism, practitioners have used AIT for children and adults with learning disabilities, attention and hyperactivity issues, auditory processing difficulties, and even depression. The underlying claim is the same across these conditions: that distorted hearing contributes to the problem, and correcting it will reduce symptoms.
The Theory Behind It
Berard’s explanation centers on two ideas. The first is that repeated exposure to randomized, filtered sound strengthens the tiny muscles of the middle ear, improving how they regulate incoming sound. The second is that this stimulation reshapes how the auditory nervous system responds to sound over time.
There is broader scientific support for the general concept that auditory training can change the brain. Research on formal auditory training programs (not AIT specifically) has shown measurable changes in how the brain responds to speech sounds. Studies using brain-wave measurements have found that after training, children can show stronger electrical responses to speech at both the brainstem and the outer brain level, and that these neural changes sometimes appear even before behavior visibly improves. Improvements measured through brain-wave recordings may also be more long-lasting than those measured through behavioral tests alone.
However, these findings come from structured auditory training programs with different methods than AIT. Whether AIT’s specific approach of randomized, filtered music produces the same kind of brain changes has not been clearly demonstrated.
What the Evidence Says
The most comprehensive review of AIT research comes from a Cochrane systematic review examining its use for autism spectrum disorders. Across seven studies involving 182 participants, the reviewers found no evidence that AIT is effective as a treatment for autism. Only two of those studies, involving a combined 35 participants and sharing an author, reported statistically significant improvements, and only on two specific behavioral checklists. A separate study of the Tomatis method, a related sound therapy, found no difference in language development between the treatment and control groups.
The Cochrane reviewers noted that the studies used such varied outcome measures that combining their results was difficult. Their conclusion: there is not enough evidence to prove AIT works, but the data is also too limited to definitively prove it doesn’t. The practical takeaway is that after decades of use, rigorous evidence of benefit remains thin.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has also reviewed the literature. Their technical report acknowledges Berard’s theoretical framework but does not endorse AIT as an evidence-based treatment.
AIT vs. Other Sound Therapies
AIT is not the only sound-based therapy on the market. The Tomatis Method, developed by French physician Alfred Tomatis, is another well-known approach. While both use modified music played through headphones, they differ in protocol and equipment. Berard AIT is relatively short and intensive: 20 sessions over about two weeks. Tomatis-based programs tend to run longer and may use different filtering technology. One Tomatis offshoot, called Samonas Sound Therapy, requires only a portable CD player and specific headphones, and claims to address hearing, learning, voice problems, and behavioral disturbances through specially recorded classical music.
Of the various sound therapy methods, the Berard approach is the most commonly used in the United States and the most frequently studied in professional literature. That said, none of these methods have strong clinical evidence behind them.
Cost and Accessibility
AIT is typically provided by trained practitioners in private clinics, though newer computer-based systems like the FST have made supervised at-home sessions possible. Because AIT is not recognized as an evidence-based medical treatment by major professional organizations, insurance coverage is uncommon. A full course of 20 sessions can cost several hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on the provider and location. Parents considering AIT for a child should weigh this cost against the current state of the evidence, and consider whether the time and money might be better spent on therapies with stronger research support, such as speech-language therapy or occupational therapy for sensory processing concerns.