During the last half of the twentieth century, Alfred A. Tomatis, a French M.D., researcher and ear, nose and throat specialist, defined the ear as a primary organ for multiple physical, emotional and neurological development responses. Not only is the ear and its complex ability to send information to the brain and the body primary for hearing and sound perception, it establishes balance and equilibrium. It is also primary for the development of verticality, spatiality, laterality and language development.

Tomatis, made his pioneering discovery that “the voice can only produce the harmonics that the ear is able to perceive.” This identification of the role that the ear played in vocal production became the first law of what later came to be called the “Tomatis Effect.” Tomatis also discovered that if the missing frequencies could be restored to the ear, through a device he called the Electronic Ear (EE) they would be returned to the voice and with sufficient training of the ear and voice through the EE, the changes would become permanent. These discoveries had important implications for populations as diverse as singers and children having difficulty in acquiring language.

Tomatis came to believe that the ear was much more than an organ of hearing. It is, he maintained in charge of functions including; energizing and regulating the brains state of alertness and attention; coordinating posture and movement; and connecting our intentions and thoughts with our physical and verbal transactions upon our environment. Tomatis’ life mission eventually became the understanding of how the ear was physiologically involved in acquiring and controlling of the voice and language. To this end he invented several technologies, which could be used to rehabilitate the ear related functions of alertness, attention, coordination and voice.

Tomatis's innovative research is based on the ear's ability to discriminate between sounds it selects to hear and the ability to tune out sounds that are unwanted. The ear's ability to listen and focus, select sounds spatially and regulate auditory information as it is perceived by the brain, has become the theme in over a hundred centers worldwide dedicated to assist children and adults with speech and communication disorders, attention deficit disorders, head injuries, and autism.

The listening process beings in utero when the fetus becomes aware of sound and frequencies in the liquid world of the heartbeat, breath and sound of the mother's voice. In La Nuit Uterine (Edition Stock, Paris, 1980), Tomatis explores in depth clinical observations on the state of intrauterine listening. He defines the phylogenic and ontogenetic progression of the ear and its neurological implications for the development of language.

Dr. Tomatis proved that the voice can reflect the state of the ear's ability to hear, a phenomenon know as the Tomatis Effect. When the perception of midrange and high frequencies is missing in the prenatal and the first three years of life, difficulties in listening and learning often arise. Without any obvious traces in deafness, a deficient ability to hear frequencies below 1000Hz can cause difficulty in understanding and remembering spoken information. A listening test for each ear was developed by Dr. Tomatis to show specific areas where frequency deficiencies occur. Defective variations in frequencies between 1000Hz and 2000Hz make it difficult to sing in tune. When there are difficulties above 2000Hz, the voice will be dull and not expressive.

Generally, a healthy adult can hear up to the 20,000Hz range, giving a bright and clear ability to distinguish sounds. When there is a loss in the high frequencies, it is necessary to strain. The ability to focus upon and select sounds or voices in a noisy room is one of the primary challenges of those with listening disabilities.

In the 1950's Tomatis developed a listening technique to 're-educate the ear' based upon the following four principles:

• Motivational and emotional needs begin with listening
• Listening plays a fundamental role in language
• The role of the auditory system relates self-to-self, others, and the universe
• The brain needs sound energy to enable the thinking process and the development of integration

The following chart created by Timothy Gilmore from the "Overview of the Tomatis Method" by Gilmore, Madaule, and Thompson, 1989) shows the essential role of the ear.

Receptive Language

At the level of receptive oral language, the following can be considered symptomatic of a listening problem:

• A need to have instructions repeated
• Distractibility, restlessness, daydreaming, poor attention and concentration in learning situations
• A tendency to misinterpret what is being said, which produces odd reactions and impedes communication with others
• Difficulty with following and/or participating in conversations in a noisy environment

Body Image

At the level of body awareness or body image, the following can be observed:

• Poor balance or coordination
• Difficulty coordinating body movement
• Clumsiness or awkwardness in body movement
• Excessive body movement when speaking or listening (fidgety)
• Poor posture: overly tense and rigid (hyper tonic) or insufficient tonicity (hypo tonic)
• Mixed lateral dominance, letter and word reversals, signs of fine motor or gross motor coordination such as poor handwriting
• Poor organization and planning skills
• The tendency to withdraw or avoid communication in learning situations and/or social situations
• A lack of curiosity or interest in learning
• Lack of interest in oral communication and, in extreme instances, avoidance or active refusal to use language as the medium through which to communicate with others

Expressive Language

At the level of spoken Language, individuals with listening-based communication problems are frequently seen to have very poor audio-vocal control or self-listening. Such symptoms include:

• Slow, hesitant, poorly articulated speech
• A poorly modulated voice (too soft or too loud)
• A poor voice, characterized by a dull, monotonic tone, and fluency
• For adults, difficulty in sustaining the interest of a group while making a speech or presentation

Developmental Characteristics

In compiling clinical histories at listening centers using the Tomatis method, the following events have had an unusually high incidence among individuals with listening-based learning and communication problems:

• Difficult circumstances surrounding their own birth
• Difficult births or early separation from the mother as a result of illness or adoption
• Recurring ear infections in the first years of life
• The arrival of a younger sibling within two years of birth
• Slow or poorly established preference for right or left hand
• Delay in language development and, less frequently, in motor development
• Difficult adjustment to school life and the recognition of problems by the teacher or by the parent within the first two years of school
• Underachievement at school or on the job

Listening integrates sensations and perceptions. The complexity of multiple roles of the ear is difficult to measure because of the ear's simultaneous regulation of information it receives from bone and air conduction in regard to both cochlear and vestibular functions.

In the late 1950's and 1960's Dr. Tomatis developed the Electronic Ear, a device for training the ear for optimal listening. With the information that has been assessed from the listening test, the speaking voice, chant and the music of Mozart is then filtered through the Electronic Ear. It is then possible to exercise and literally train the ear to listen more efficiently. Programs range from fifty to two hundred hours of auditory stimulation over a period of a few months through both air and bone conduction. This process is monitored by a specialist to observe the progress of the ear's ability to become a better receptor for more subtle discriminations in linguistic, musical and emotional response. There are passive phases of listening when drawing, resting and working with puzzles assist the listening process. In more active phases of reading aloud and chanting, the Electronic Ear filters and gates sounds so that the ear receives optimal stimulation at the most needed frequencies. (Note from Incredible Horizons; DLS-Tomatis equipment is so much more efficient that it can optimize performance in and average of thirty visits of one hour and twenty minutes.)

Tomatis was keenly aware that every language has a particular frequency range and accents at certain points. By stimulating the unique frequency ranges through music and vocal participation, the foreign tongue becomes familiar to those studying the language. A richer, more melodious expression of the new language becomes evident as study and the Electronic Ear stimulation work together for ease of the learner.

Medical research for the Electronic Ear has predominated taken place in Europe and Central America. The State of Washington now supports a Tomatis program for those on welfare. The research and work of Tomatis is evident throughout the world.

Born on Christmas Day, 1920, Dr. Tomatis passed away in Carcassonne, France, on Christmas Day, 2001. Over a hundred and fifty centers in fifteen countries are continuing the research with the power of music, Mozart and the Electronic Ear.

Bibliography

Books by Alfred A. Tomatis

Books in English:

The Conscious Ear, Station Hill Press, Barrytown, NY, 1991

Education and Dyslexia, AIAPP Publishers, Fribourg, Switzerland, 1978

The Ear and Language, Moulin Publishing, Norval, Ontario, Canada, 1996

 

Among other discoveries, Dr. Tomatis helped identify the relationship between certain sound frequencies and their effect on functions of the mind and body. A simplified explanation of Dr. Tomatis’ findings shows that certain bands, or zones, of sound frequencies affect different abilities:

Zone One Sensory Integration (lower frequency sounds) • Balance • Rhythm • Coordination • Muscle Tone • Sense of Direction • Laterality • Right/Left Discrimination • Body Awareness   Zone Two Speech and Language (mid and higher frequency sounds) • Memory • Concentration • Attention • Speech • Language • Vocal Control   Zone Three High Spectrum (higher frequency sounds) • Energy • Intuition • Ideas • Ideals • Spirituality • Creativity • Auditory Cohesion

For a deeper understanding of Tomatis theories and how they work Click Here

          

The Tomatis Method refers to a method of auditory stimulation developed by Dr. Alfred Tomatis.  Ron Minson, MD, founder of Dynamic Listening Systems (DLS), studied with Dr. Tomatis and used the Tomatis equipment for years.  Dr. Minson founded DLS to develop a listening system that utilizes the most recent advances in psychoacoustic technology.  Although the DLS equipment differs from the Tomatis equipment, the essential method and audio techniques are intimately connected to the pioneering work of Dr. Tomatis. 
 
   Unlock undeveloped potential in Brevards only facility with educational rehabilitation programs that improve the brains ability to learn           In July of 2007 DLS will release a  vestibular/visual activities kit so that those systems can be stimulated simultaneous to the auditory.  As you can imagine, this is even more effective than other traditional auditory stimulation.

The following research articles can be accessed by clicking on the link following each description.
For articles and media coverage CLICK HERE

The Tomatis Center in Toronto, Canada, also studied the results of the Listening Therapy on over 400 children and adolescents. They all had well-documented histories of learning problems, as well as a pattern of under achievement on psycho-educational tests. The results of the treatment were graded by the parents. In this test, 95% of the parents responded that the program had helped their children. The parents saw improvements in the following areas:   Skill or Ability Percent of Improvement Greater Communication Abilities 89% Better Attention Span 86% Frustration Level Decreased 80% Reading Comprehension Increased 85% Quality of Speech Improved 74% Memory Improved 73% Better Spelling Aptitude 69% Showed more maturity 84% In a follow-up six months after the program, 83% of those children in the study had maintained the improvements and/or had continued to make even further gains. An additional 14% of the children had maintained some of the gains. Only 3% had maintained none of the improvements. A Canadian researcher, H.A. Stutt (9) concluded that the Tomatis Listening Program produces benefits beyond what could be expected by maturation or remedial education alone. The benefits mentioned by Stutt include: A significant increase in I.Q. Better reading skills More perceptual processing Increased academic skills A general sense of adjustment More developed communication skills A greater ability to verbally express thoughts and feelings   During the 1980’s, the Tomatis Listening Program began being used in several French schools with funds allocated by The Ministry of Education. Children, both then and now, are chosen on the basis of the severity of their school difficulties. While conducting the Tomatis Listening Program in these environments, away from the clinics, has been far from ideal, the results were good enough for the program to be conducted year after year at the insistent requests of parents. The parents  saw the positive and lasting changes in their children lives and took a stand to keep the program in place.

In 1983, De Bruto (10) conducted a carefully controlled study to investigate the efficacy of the Tomatis Method on the severely developmentally delayed people. Thirty inmates of the Witrand Care and Rehabilitation Center (South Africa), aged 4 to 14 years and previously diagnosed as severely developmentally delayed, but with the ability to sit and walk, were randomly assigned to three groups which received: Group A: auditory stimulation (Tomatis) and a sensory motor stimulation program. Group B: music stimulation (without the Tomatis effect) plus the same sensory stimulation program. Group C: no-treatment. Psychological tests included the Bailey Scales of Infant Development and a measure of responsiveness. The results indicated that both experimental groups manifested an increase in mental age, but the increase in the Tomatis stimulation group (group A) was significantly higher than in group B. No change was found in group C. Whereas no significant differences in terms of responsiveness in group A and B were observed prior to the stimulation program, a statistical significant reduction of self-directed responses, together with a significant increase in object-directed responses occurred after the Tomatis stimulation program.   Research done by Dr. Deborah Swain showed that the Tomatis Method significantly improves auditory processing skills. This retrospective study evaluated the results of Tomatis auditory stimulation on 41 randomly selected clients that had auditory processing problems. The effect of the treatment was measured using TAPS (Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills) and TCC (Token Test for Children). The study showed highly significant improvements in immediate auditory memory, auditory sequencing, interpretation and following directions, auditory discrimination and auditory cohesion. Reductions in auditory latency were also noted. The study has been submitted for publication. For additional information, please contact Dr. Swain (dswain@theswaincenter.com)   Dr. Joan Neysmith-Roy from the Department of Psychology in Regina has conducted a careful study with six severely autistic boys. This study confirms the clinical evidence that autistic children benefit from the Tomatis Method. “Three (50%) of the boys demonstrated positive behavior changes by the end of the treatment. One boy was no longer considered autistic; two boys showed mild symptoms of autism and three boys remained within the severely autistic range. Of particular interest were the changes that occurred in the pre-linguistic areas of five of the six boys. These included Adaptation to Change, Listening Response, Non verbal Communication, Emotional Response and Activity Level. …. The author suggests that the Tomatis method may be helpful in making pre-linguistic behaviors manageable and thus help prepare the child to learn basic skills necessary for the development of language and learning.” Dr. Joan Neysmith-Roy also wrote a doctoral dissertation on the impact of the Tomatis Method on dyslexic boys(11). Studies also have been conducted on stuttering (12), laterality (13,14), anxiety and depression (15) showing positive effect obtained by the Tomatis treatment.

The Effects of the Tomatis Method of Auditory Stimulation on Auditory Processing Disorder: A Summary of Findings.

Ross-Swain, Deborah (2005). CCC Speech-Language Pathologist

This retrospective study analyzed the results of 41 randomly selected APD cases (18 females, 23 males) who underwent auditory stimulation programs. The effect of the treatment was measured using TAPS (Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills) and TCC (Token Test for Children). The study evaluated the areas of immediate auditory memory, auditory sequencing, interpretation and following directions, auditory discrimination and auditory cohesion. The results indicated significant differences in all areas that were assessed and compared.
To view this paper please click here.

Early Intervention: A Longitudinal Study of Reading and Reading Related Achievement of Students in Kindergarten Through Second Grade Enrolled in the Alpha Program  

Prepared by J. Anne Calhoun, Ph. D. Educational Psychology

Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

College of Education, University of New Mexico 2006 
To view, click here.

Hillside Health CenterOngoing Study  

data collected by Maxwell Fraval, D.O. and Harry Armytage,

Hillside Health Center, Kambah, Australia 2006

This summary of data covers 4 DLS test areas: visual/auditory processing speed, selectivity, auditory digit span, and right-ear dominance.
To view, click here.

The Efficacy of the Tomatis Method for Children with learning and communication disorders: a         meta-analysis. Gilmore, Tim (1999). Published in the International Listening Journal, 1999.

A meta-analysis is a specific type of research, which examines previously completed research studies. This meta-analysis looks at 5 studies* of Tomatis-based auditory stimulation remediation. The analysis, involving a total of 231 children, concluded that the remediation significantly improves linguistic skills, psychomotor skills, personal and social adjustment skills, auditory skills, and cognitive skills.