Owl Ears

Owl Ears

Generally, most of us don’t think of our hearing as being 3-dimensional. There are some creatures, however, that do much of their location through dimensional hearing. Owls, for example, hear dimensionally, and their facial feathers actually shape sound coming into their ears to such an extent that in experiments where their facial feathers were trimmed, they could no longer localize sounds properly. Deer also swivel their ears in the direction of sounds. If you come across a deer outdoors, you will notice that when it detects you it swivels its ears in your direction. We too, as humans, have this capacity for dimensional hearing, but it is one that has atrophied for many of us through dis-use. In the owl ears practice, we are learning to turn back on this dimensional awareness of sound.

Sit or stand upright in a relatively quiet spot. Establish a felt sense of safety through ORIENTING (do this exercise in a place you feel safe.) Then, when you are ready, close your eyes. Take a moment to settle into your body, and notice your breath. Now bring your attention to the center of your head. Ordinarily, when we are listening, we are reaching out with our hearing. In this exercise, however, we are simply going to receive sound, and we are going to listen from a still point in the center of our heads. Imagine that in the very center of your head is an omni-directional microphone of great sensitivity, that is listening in all directions. Let your ears become the membrane of this microphone. Take a minute first to listen to your right. Then listen to you left. Listen downward towards the ground. Listen upwards towards the sky. Listen forwards, listen behind you. Now, softly, extend and open your listening in all directions. Visualize your hearing spherically, radiating in all directions from the still point in your head. Allow sounds to come to you.

The calibration aspect of this practice is one that you can easily do at a sit spot alone, or with others. If alone, practice owl ears with eyes closed, and, as each sound arises, lift one of your hands and point precisely to where the sound is coming from. As soon as you’ve pointed, take a moment to briefly open your eyes, and notice how close you are to the actual source of the sound. Practice this. Over time, your calibration will improve. With a partner you can also practice with your eyes closed by having them move around you (above, below, forward, back, side-to-side) snapping their fingers, and you, as the listener, pointing to where the sound is originating. As a side note, you may notice that you have better accuracy (calibration) in certain areas of your hearing, or on a particular side, or that you have trouble localizing sound in certain areas. (When I started doing this, I discovered that there was an area overhead that was difficult for me to localize sounds accurately.) If you notice deficits, you can pinpoint them, and focus your training specifically on those areas.

Other games that involve calibrating hearing could be in sound recognition- trying to identify common sounds without seeing them. This practice is part of the Sensory practices area, and specifically SENSORY CALIBRATION.