Source: Robert Dilts

Improve your auditory reflex system in order to better perceive sound, its meanings, and subtleties. This can enhance your modeling and communication skills. You can also practice this strategy with a recording, but be sure to record your own voice as well. To make it even more useful, listen to your recorded voice a few times to get used to it.

1.Pay attention to a sound. Look for a continuous or recurring sound in your surroundings. Listen to it carefully for about ten seconds.

Step 2: Recreate the sound. #

Using your voice, reproduce that sound as closely as possible. If it is a sound that you can’t imitate very well, then imitate any aspect of it that you can. For example, rhythm, warble, grittiness, and any other sub-modality of the sound.

Step 3: Compare: Try this with a partner. #

Compare how you reproduce the sound.

Step 4: Internal Representations: Ask your partner what internal representations were used and in what ways they feel their voice resembles or does not resemble the sound. #

Give the same information to your partner.

Step 5: Rating for Sub-modality: Take a look at the list of sub-modalities. #

Listen to the sound with each of these in mind, but filter for each sub-modality, one at a time. Can you add any of the sub-modalities to your imitation of the sound? As you do this, compare with your partner where you feel the sound belongs in the range of each sub-modality, on a scale of zero to ten, with zero being “not at all” and ten being the highest level, or 100%. Include in your discussion what you used as a reference to rate the sub-modality. For example, take volume. Louder or quieter than what? Consider grittiness. Grittier than James Brown’s voice, or smoother than Enya’s?

Step 6: Recreate the sound once more. #

Notice any improvements in your awareness that have improved. What sub-modalities had the biggest effect on your discernment?  Compared with your partner.