Tomatis Sound Therapy Training

There are many sound therapies available in the US today and all of them claim to have found their base in the founder and originator of Sound Therapy, Dr. A. Tomatis. It is important to know from the outset that the Tomatis® Method is the only program available in the US that provides the full extend of the Tomatis® effect and contains the three laws for which Dr. Tomatis has received many rewards and acclamations. Many programs claim to be Tomatis® based, which honors this great man for the profound effect that he had in his life on children and adults during his lifetime and beyond.

Dr. A. Tomatis

He was a doctor of medicine (Ear, nose, and throat physician) and a specialist in problems with hearing and language. Dr. Tomatis founded, and was the president of, the field of Audio – Psycho- Phonology at the School of Anthropology in Paris. Amongst many awards, he was awarded distinctively by the Paris Academy of Sciences and the Paris Academy of Medicine for creating the “Tomatis® Effect”, which was to be expressed by 3 laws:

1. The voice only contains what the ear can hear.
   
2. If the hearing is modified, the voice is immediately and unconsciously modified.
   

     3.  It is possible to durably transform phonation when auditive stimulation is
           maintained over a certain time (the law of duration or permanence).

Besides these three laws, which are integral for permanent change, the Tomatis® Method includes the normal physical, sensory, and physiological development of a person and also stimulates, with integration, several cranial nerve pathways in the brain.

The Concept of Listening

There are 3 functions to the ear:

1. The function of balance – The vestibule is a part of the inner ear which informs the brain of the slightest body movement, it intervenes therefore in the control of posture and the maintenance of balance – our vestibular system.
   
   
2. The function of Revitalization or Cortical Charge – The ear is very necessary in causing the cortex to be charged and therefore needs to be stimulated.
   
   
3. The function of hearing – When this function is disrupted, difficulties in analysis, accommodation, spatialization or auditive lateralization are caused. The person experiences an influx of information, but perceives it in a distorted manner affecting comprehension, as well as impacting verbal expression. The person becomes fatigued, irritable and finally withdraws. 

Listening is not hearing. Hearing is the ability to discriminate different frequency ranges as they are tested by audiologists. In Tomatis® Training we do not work with hearing. Most of the time persons would return from a visit to an audiologist with a perfect hearing score. Listening is the ability to use one’s hearing intentionally and attentively, and in a way that is acceptable on an emotional level, for the purpose of learning and communicating. It is a high level cortical function. Listening can be affected by developmental delays (too frequent occurrences of ear infection in early formative years being one red flag), auditory processing and communicative disorders, and emotional disturbances as well.

See our Listening Checklist to see if you or a family member would be considered to have a listening difficulty that could be assisted by Tomatis training. 

The Tomatis Method

• We use an electronic system called the Electronic Ear or EE. Over the many years of program development, starting out with tapes of music, the EE has developed into a modern machine with digitalized music and computerized features. At our center we use  the Tomatis® Solisten. The EE is a system which exploits and reactivates the strategies involved in perceptive organization and in the management of the sound environment which the brain is normally able to use when listening is not disturbed. 

• A piece of huge importance to the EE is the gating mechanism between two sound channels. This is based on the sound change between two channels on a double process of perceptive contrast (timbre / intensity). Our brain works in such a way that our selective attention, which allows us to select a sound signal among all the possible ones so that it can be treated, is triggered if two conditions are brought together: 
• • The new or unpredictable character of the sound signal.
  • An increase in the intensity of this message. 
    
    The gating mechanism of the EE triggers both conditions and this specific mechanism is very unique to the Tomatis® method and not replicated in any other product. The certified Tomatis® Consultant is able to specifically adapt each client’s program by changing the gating taking place on each CD processed through the EE.
    
    
• Another important parameter to the Tomatis® Method is to achieve listening through air and bone conduction. As humans, we always hear and listen through both bone and air conduction. We listen optimally when these two systems are well balanced, which is one of the primary goals of the Tomatis® Method. When travelling through air conduction, the sound message arrives at the tympanic membrane through the airwaves, and the membrane’s vibration connects this with the tiny middle ear bones (an air cavity), then through the oval window to the sensorial cells in the Organ of Corti. From here the sound is processed through the vestibule-cochlear nerve to the brain. If the sound is travelling via bone conduction, the message is transmitted via the head bone through a vibrator, located in the frame of the headphone and rests on the middle of top of the person’s head, carrying the sound directly to the inner ear. This feature of bone conduction and being processed through the EE is very unique to the Tomatis® Method and should not be confused by bone conduction being used without a processor such as the EE.
  
  
• Delay and Precession are other parameters used by the Tomatis® Method and also quite unique to the Tomatis® Method with no other product using this intricate process in today’s proliferation of sound therapies. Both actions contribute to the reeducation of the ear to improve its ability to attend and comprehend what it is listening to, which is the overall target of the Tomatis® Method. They work as time delays through the gating system as discussed above and assists in slowing down, modifying the time span of sound being gated through the channels. The Certified Tomatis® consultant is able to set these parameters for each individual client as per each CD listened to.

• The Balance mechanism stimulates the client to use his/her right ear for controlling his/her voice, therefore communicating more effectively. Again the Certified Tomatis® Consultant is able to set this parameter on each CD for each individual client.
  
  
• The Filters feature of the EE used in the Tomatis® method allows for reeducating the sound perception starting from the earliest form of listening in the mother’s womb to the fully advanced listening of a mature adult. Filters are electronic mechanisms in the EE intended to reduce the volume of chosen acoustic frequency ranges. This is the feature mostly attempted to be replicated by other sound therapies, though not with the precision of the original Tomatis® Method and with the full Tomatis® Effect.
  
  
• We use the Mother’s voice and record this at our center to be filtered through the EE at the frequencies that babies listen to while in their mother’s womb. Babies can hear sounds from their mother’s voice from her voice box through her spinal cord very specifically in the third trimester and is an important feature of emotional bonding between child and parent.
  
  
• The Tomatis® Method also utilizes an Active Phase, which requires the person to use his / her voice by speaking, reading aloud, or singing through a microphone. The person’s voice and music are modified by the EE, and combine to incorporate the attended frequencies into the client’s voice, producing better vocal production. This form of active work has not been replicated by any other program as it is processed through the EE with settings set for each individual client by the Certified Tomatis® Consultant.
  
  As we can see, though many base their sound therapies on the foundation work completed by Dr. Tomatis, no other program has been able to utilize the Tomatis Effect to the fullest extent, except for the EE used by Certified Tomatis® Consultants. The program is intricate, the training commitment is a long and expensive process, but the results are worth it.
  
  See Research on the Tomatis Method for more information. 

Our Tomatis Clinical Program

Children and adults are treated through this program at our center.  We operate three sessions daily during the school year (September through May) and four sessions daily from June through August.  Each session is two hours in length.  The person listens to mostly Mozart Music and Gregorian Chants, which is modified in whichever way the Certified Tomatis Consultant plans for each individual client.  

Clients attend the program for periods of three Intensives; 15 consecutive days (except for Sundays), take a four-week break for consolidation, then eight consecutive days (except for Sundays),  another 4-week break, then a last intensive for 8 days. Clients are typically re-assessed about 2 to 3 months after their last day of intervention to determine the progress made in comparison with their initial assessment.

Initial and Exit Interviews with the families are conducted at the initiation and exit of each intensive burst and Listening tests on the Tomatis® Listening test machine are conducted where applicable before and after each intensive.

Tomatis Home Program - Solisten (TC)

This home program is only available for use through Certified Tomatis® Consultants, who have had more extensive training in the use of the Method. It enables the Tomatis® Consultant to have the flexibility of utilizing a home program when needed. The home program follows the same timeframe of the three intensives as with the clinical program.

• More options for individualized program planning are available in gating, precession and delay, though not the full spectrum as at the Center.
  
• Air and Bone conduction capability 
  
• The Solisten® (TC) does have the ability to use balance.
  
• Options for individualized programming are available with regards to the
  use of filters on the Solisten® (TC).
  
• The Solisten® (TC) does not have an active phase or use of the Mother's Voice. 
  

Good Books to Read

Campbell, Don. The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 2001.

Campbell, Don, and  Doman, Alex. Healing at the Speed of Sound: How What We Hear Transforms Our Brains and Our Lives. New York, NY: Hudson Street Press, 2011.

Madaule, Paul. When Listening Comes Alive: A Guide to Effective Learning and Communication. Norval, Ontario: Moulin, 1994.

Sollier, Pierre. Listening for Wellness: An Introduction to the Tomatis Method. Walnut Creek, CA: The Mozart Center Press, 2005.

Tomatis, A. A. The Conscious Ear: My Life of Transformation Through Listening. Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 1991.

Tomatis, A. A. The Ear and Language. Norval, Ontario: Moulin Publishing, 1996.

908 922-3309    contact@wellspringlearningcenter.com