The interpreting market landscape has changed dramatically over the last 15 months, increasing our exposure to compressed digital sound, with potential consequences for our hearing. That was no doubt one of the reasons why our webinar on Lifelong Listening resonated with so many people - not just interpreters - and why hundreds of colleagues from around the world joined us for this free online event with listening trainer Claudia Krüger.

Hearing and listening play a vital role at every stage of our lives - in the acquisition of native and foreign languages, in the voice, balance and motor skills, in concentration and, last but not least, in communication. Those who fail to hear or - worse - listen well may suffer from a range of complaints. At a young age, these may manifest themselves in difficulties speaking, reading and spelling, leading to perception and processing disorders and even to problems with movement, to isolation and burnout. Listening is involved in many processes in the body - including coping with stress. This is because the ears are directly connected to the vagus nerve, which contributes to regulating the stress level of our entire system, affecting many internal organs in the process. The older we get, the more difficult it is to pick up higher frequencies, depriving our ears and brain of an important source of stimulation.

For professional speakers and listeners, an additional factor is the above-average strain placed on the ears and voice. And if the technical prerequisites for good understanding are inadequate, it poses a real threat to our capacity for lifelong listening.

During the webinar, Claudia described these relationships, offered some everyday support options and explained the main features of the Tomatis Method, including how to look after your ears so that they will continue to function well throughout your life.

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Claudia Krüger is a fully licensed listening trainer. Since 2008 she has applied the Tomatis Method (pioneered by the French ENT professor Alfred Tomatis) to her work with children and adults, initially in Cologne and, since 2018, at her institute in Papenburg. At the root of the Tomatis Method is the knowledge that listening plays a central role in language acquisition, communication, concentration, balance, motor skills, perception processing and even stress management. An inability to filter stimuli properly when we listen can lead to a range of disorders. Claudia has also been a conference interpreter since 1990, working from Polish and English into German and from German into Polish. Before opening her institute in Cologne, she chaired the German AIIC Region for six years. For many years she taught translation and interpreting and later also the Tomatis Method.