The use of sound and music in the management of learning and communication difficulties has evolved and improved over time. Even ancient civilizations realized the power of music but more recently, neuroscience has helped explain how music and sound can not only impact the brain but also change it. The idea that music and sound can change the brain stems forms the intersection of two key areas of recent research. Firstly, we now know that the brain is "plastic", which means that it can change itself and create new connections between many different neurological areas. Secondly, the ear is more than a passive sensory organ which simply receives sounds; it is implicated in dynamism, movement, coordination, rhythm.

In other words, the ear is a fundamental “sensory gate” through which one can access the brain and create change. Through the years, therapies utilising sound and music have developed different protocols that produced varying effects on wide-ranging conditions.