Dr. Alfred Tomatis'method

Electronic ear (circa 1970) of Dr. Tomatis

To learn more, read on:

Alfred Tomatis
the historical context
audio-psycho-phonology today
the original method, steps

Alfred Tomatis

Dr. Tomatis (1920-2001) was an ENT doctor by training and a researcher. He was the first to study the links between the sensory variables of listening (audio), those of the psyche (psycho) and those allowing expression, particularly oral expression (phono). He named this discipline "audio-psycho-phonology". He is known in physiology for his "Tomatis laws" and became famous among his clientele at the time because of the effectiveness and ingenuity of his treatment method using an instrument of his invention (the electronic ear) to improve brain function. Since his death he has been discredited due to interests and commercial conflicts. A few loyal students have courageously grouped together in national associations of audio-psycho-phonology to try to preserve all of his teachings.

Historical context

To situate audio-psycho-phonology and its scope, we must go back with Dr. Tomatis to the time when he began his passionate career as a doctor and researcher, in the middle of the 20th century. It was a time of scientific effervescence and theoretical developments in areas such as the theory of systems (Ludwig von Bertalanffy), cybernetics (Norman Wiener), Gestalt (Wertheimer), neuroscience, bionics (also called biomimetics), psychology and the study of child cognitive development (Piaget), medicine and the study of intrapsychic determinants of behavior (Freud, Jung, Lacan) and physics (Einstein), to name just a few.

Systems theory and cybernetics applied to the human body and psyche as well as Gestalt theory affirm that the body and mind are more than the sum of their parts and function as a system of interconnected subsystems, all interacting with each other, including with a central control system. These ideas are what allowed Dr. Tomatis to make a major medical discovery. Among his first ENT patients were opera singers who had lost their capacity to sing in tune. At the time it was considered to be the result of distended or damaged vocal cords. He found that it was in fact the result of a dysfunction of the central nervous system and the way it processed information. It was unlinked to bad hearing although it could be 1) measured with and audiometer and 2) counteracted thanks to an external device transmitting auditory stimuli differentially through air and bone channels. This discovery at the physiology laboratory of the Sorbonne in Paris allowed him to state in 1957 and 1960 the "Tomatis Laws" which were accepted by the French Academy of Medicine:

• the voice contains only what the ear listens to (the larynx only emits the harmonics that the brain processes)

• if the listening capacity is artificially modified, the voice is subconsciously and immediately modified

• if a specific auditory stimulation is maintained for a given time it modifies permanently the self-listening posture of the subject and consequently his phonation.

Systems theory is what allowed him to understand the wide spanned effects of listening training. It acts on numerous subsystems: firstly the two interconnected "audio" subsystems (vestibule, vestibular nuclei, neuromuscular system; cochlea, language centers, phonation organs), secondly their interconnection to the visual system (in order to be able to communicate in all positions and also while we are moving) and other sensory systems, finally on the central systems (emotional brain, limbic and cortex) presiding over the analysis of information of sensory origin. As a result of the wide range of results he observed in his practice, he got interested in the modifications brought about by his listening training not only on phonation but also on the psyche, on behavior, on mood, on learning, on motricity, on initiative, on creativity, on communication and on social interaction.

Neuroscience and research on brain functions have led Professor Tomatis to identify the difference between "hearing" and "listening", the latter being largely correlated with dynamism, posture, attention, concentration, memory, integration of cognitive-sensory-motor-emotional data, synchronization and discernment. It is possible to hear without listening (during sleep for example) and vice versa - to listen correctly while barely hearing.

Bionics is the development of external technological devices applied to medicine and the improvement of human functioning. This advance, applied to the medical specialty "ear-nose-throat", gave the idea and allowed Dr. Tomatis to invent his gold medal-winning device, the electronic version of the ear, a device that allows the brain to regain its full potential not of hearing but of listening. Initially designed solely as a solution for treating audio-vocal difficulties, this "electronic ear" later proved to have other important psycho-medical and behavioral applications.

Research on cognitive development and psychology: with Piaget and the growing interest in the cognitive development of the child, Prof. Tomatis got interested in studying the periods of development of the "listening" function, from the early stages of fetal listening to adult listening. This starts in the womb with bone listening of the high-pitched frecuencies contained within the mother's voice (transmitted by her skeleton from larynx to pelvis, a resonance box) to ear drum listening through the air at birth. The latter then gradually evolves then from a capacity of distinguishing only low frecuencies in the first years of life to finally distinguishing up to 9000-20.000Hz in the teens, allowing communication, learning and development. With Freud's psychoanalytic theories on the role of parental images in the development of the psyche, Prof Alfred Tomatis analyzed the impact of the desire to listen to the voice of the mother and father on the emotional development of the child, his choice of preferential listening through the right ear or the left ear, the impact on the quality of expression and communication. With Lacan he was interested in how language evolved and structured the subconscious mind and conscious awareness, focusing on the relationships between the listening capacity and the organization of thoughts and expression. With Karl Gustav Jung, he was interested in the interactions between this desire to listen to high frequencies compared to low ones and the development of creativity as well as artistic, spiritual and religious sensitivity.

Physics and biophysics: With the research of Einstein and other physicists on the relationship between energy and matter, electromagnetic fields, the behavior of waves at the material and mechanical level, as well as with the developments of physics applied to physiology, Dr Alfred Tomatis developed his ideas around the relationship between sound stimulation and the observed modifications in brain activity and levels of energy.

Audio-psycho-phonology today

Following the death of the inventor, the term "audio-psycho-phonology" is no longer used by all specialists of the sector in the same way. This causes confusion among users.

It alludes to the links between hearing, psychology and phonology, an undeniable, observable and measurable universal fact.
It is used indiscriminately in allusion to the links between hearing, psychology and absolutely all expressive behavior, from phonology, speech, posture, motor skills, musical performance to cognitive and emotional skills such as organizational, planning, discernment and affective/emotional balance skills.
It is synonymous with the original individualized method of listening therapy developed between 1950 and 2001 by Dr. Alfred Tomatis and excludes the rental of a digital electronic ear.
It is synonymous with the proposals of representatives of commercial companies legally operating under the name of the inventor and offering rental of digital equipment to be used at home.
It is used by myself and othre psychologists because of its multiple psychological applications in adults.
It is used by other specialists because of other applications, in particular for speech, psychomotor, academic skills, language learning improvement.

It is up to you to request from the practitionner clarifications with respect to their original basic area of competence. If your goal is to improve speech and language, writing, math and any other academic learning, it should ideally be a speech therapist or a teacher. Similarly, for psychomotor skills, dance or singing, a specialist in these fields would be ideal. Some audio-psycho-phonologists were basically parents of children whose behavior or attention span were profoundly helped by the Dr. Tomatis'training methodology. Their experience might be even more useful to you in terms of addressing your children's issues than that of more academically trained professionals.

It is the specialist in a specific branch who can, based on it, make the results obtained by the method intelligible to you and who can precisely individualize the training path according to the goals pursued.

WARNING: People having suffered severe trauma must in all cases be informed that Dr. Tomatis' approach will trigger an associative process which will bring back past memories and emotions, sometimes months or even years later. This is extremely positive if you are suffering from dissociative states which you wish to overcome but it is in my view essential to be followed up by a psychologist-psychotherapist experienced in trauma therapy.

The original method: steps
Preparation, the listening test

The listening test helps to understand one of the little-known origins of our psychological difficulties and symptoms. It also allows us to decide, if necessary, on an audio-psycho-phonological training plan.

Audio-psycho-phonological assessment of listening

This is a test that highlights the frequencies that unconsciously capture our attention between 125 and 8000Hz, on the right and left, through the bones and through the tympanic membrane. This is what is interpreted. It is not quite a hearing test such as that performed by ENT doctors. The four listening curves thus obtained, with their peaks, troughs, inversions and disparities on the right and left (and other technical elements) give sometimes surprising indications of accuracy on a whole series of aspects of our overall functioning.

The material

The specialized headset allowing transmission as programmed on the electronic ear.

Specific sound materials , some treated in the laboratory in order to densify them in harmonics in certain chosen areas.

Electronic Ear (2020) by Dr. Alfred Tomatis

The analog electronic ear intervenes before the sound message is broadcast by the headset.

This tool allows:

.- The introduction of random delays(but organically linked to the characteristics of the sound message) of switching C1 to C2 between the bony and tympanic pathways (precession and delay).

.- The ability to change the volume of the left transmission relative to the volume of the right transmission (balance).

.- The introduction of filters to relieve or train listening in certain frequency zones. Progressive filters towards the treble allow us to go back through the stages of development towards the first prenatal listening.

First training session

This is a major step of 30 hours of neurosensory training under an electronic ear, to be done at the location of the office, at the fastest possible pace, on average 2 hours in a row a few times a week, or even daily.

As with sports training, this requires organizing yourself to cut yourself off from your daily life and professional obligations, without reading or accessing your emails, between 6 and 8 hours per week.

Nothing is asked except to put on the headphones. There is no need to listen, you can sleep, draw or do puzzles. It is a time to rest that quickly allows you to understand how essential it is to take the time to allow the creative personal integration of data, the liberating exercise of intelligence and the possibility of staying healthy.

This period of intensive brain training is followed by a break of a few weeks. It allows the assimilation of the training.

Next sessions

These are stages that are half as short (15 hours) but repeated, each time with a break of a few weeks between stages.

Each individual evolves at their own pace and the time to reach the desired goal varies.

The programs (filtering sequences, defiltering, densification) and the sound materials used change depending on the individuals and the reasons for consultation.

The steps of the process are the same for everyone. They include a passive work phase followed by an active work phase.

In children , APP training modifies the child's relationship with their parents and their school environment, which relaunches harmonious maturation, with observable benefits in terms of learning, expression and organization.

In adults , it is the relationship with oneself, with those close to them in the family and professional context that evolves, facilitating the personal developments to which the adult aspires and which he envisages.