Tomatis Method Listening Program

The Tomatis Method is the most comprehensive technology of all existing auditory stimulation programs. Developed by the French ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Alfred Tomatis, who pioneered psychoacoustics over 50 years ago. The Tomatis Method uses electronically modified music to re-educate the listening system, by stimulating and improving the way in which we process auditory information and thus the way that we listen and communicate. Many people experience listening disabilities and do not realize it. Difficulties in processing sound to its full potential can affect brain functioning, causing problems in attention and behaviour,  communication skills, co-ordination, energy levels, learning abilities and sensory integration. People can be trained to improve or enhance their ability to process sound, and to overcome weaknesses or further develop listening related skills. Listening to the program literally exercises and tones tiny muscles in the ear and helps to build stronger multi-sensory pathways in the brain, improving its ability to process sound and enhance communication and cognitive abilities.

The Tomatis Method is founded on three principles

The voice contains only the sounds that the ear hears.
If listening is modified, the voice is also modified immediately and unconsciously.
It is possible to transform the voice by auditory stimulus that is sustained over a certain period of time.

The Tomatis Method retrains the listening system by using electronically modified music and language to re-educate, stimulate and improve the way in which we process auditory information. The Tomatis Method assists in enhancing the ability to differentiate between certain frequencies which is a pre-requisite for language development and for the processing of all auditory information reaching the brain. The training is provided using a mini computer and delivered through advanced electronic and audio circuitry known as the Electronic Ear or Listening Trainer. Education with the Electronic Ear requires a great variety of very specific sonic stimuli, and which envelop all the phases of listening from the most archaic in a liquid medium (in utero) to the most evolved of adulthood. The goal of the Tomatis Method is to maximise the capacity for communication that everyone has, by giving or restoring to the individual his or her full potential as a listener.  

Listening through bone conducted sound

If you think about it, you will know that we hear with more than just our ears. The bones of our body and our skin tissue are also sensitive to sound (bone conducted sound). When we hear a gunshot, a loud screech or a door slamming, our bodies shudder instinctively. The sounds picked up by our bones are transmitted directly to our inner-ear without any filter to dampen their intensity. They arrive in the brain without any warning signals. That is why they produce a reflex reaction. On the other hand, sounds picked up by our ears (air conducted sound) are dampened to a comfortable intensity. Furthermore, the body takes in sounds and forewarns the brain that the sounds are coming milliseconds before the sounds actually reach our ears.

The Tomatis Method trains the ears to become the main entrance to sounds, training the child’s bone conduction to be the secondary entrance of auditory information. This training is achieved by listening to gated music through a special headphone that are equipped with a vibrator located at the top of the headphones designed to deliver sound to the bone (head). Through this vibrator, bone receives the stimulus at the same time as you listen with your ears. Over time, by listening to sounds delivered at a different timing between the bone and ears, de-sensitisation of bone conducted sound occurs. This reduces stress on the brain due to the elimination of confusing inputs and gives you the ability to pay attention and learn more effectively.  

The Tomatis Program incorporates two phases:-

The passive phase, where the individual listens to electronically modified Mozart music and Gregorian chant and young children also listen to their mother’s voice.  During the active phase, the individual listens to and recites hundreds of words and phrases, which are re-directed back to the individual’s, own auditory system, to train the brain to control the voice and phonation.  Progress in treatment is traced by they use of a Listening Test unique to the Tomatis Method, which is an auditory perception test which focuses on an individual’s initial receptivity to different sounds as well as their ability to accurately distinguish between these pure tone sounds. Both air and bone conduction threshold are obtained.  Resulting profiles are interpreted within guidelines, which take developmental and psychophysiological considerations into account.

Application of the Tomatis Method for Children & Teenagers

Autism

ADD/ADHD

Central auditory processing difficulties

Communication disorders and dyspraxia

Developmental and speech delay

Dyslexia

Learning problems (written and oral)

Poor motor skills

Short attention span and auditory memory difficulties

Sensory integration

Autism

Internationally the Tomatis Method is best known to assist in alleviating the severity of behaviours contributing to the diagnosis of autism. Positive changes that have been documented within this disorder include: adaptation to change, listening response, non-verbal communication, emotional response and activity level.

Auditory Processing Difficulties

The Tomatis Method has shown to improve substantially auditory processing difficulties, by ameliorating auditory sequential memory difficulties, the ability to distinguish speech against a variety of background noises and thus listening, as well as assisting in the acquisition of phonemic discrimination and phonological awareness.

Learning Problems

Poor listening makes poor learning.  Just as one can look without seeing, one can also hear without listening.  Listening requires the desire to focus on sounds.  Tomatis identified this lack of desire to focus as one of the major causes of learning difficulties.   The Tomatis Method provides the basis for retraining the auditory system to distinguish between the mixtures of high and low frequencies that exist in nature and speech.  >Often children with learning difficulties are unable to distinguish between sounds like s and z, p and b and so on. The Tomatis Method listening program retrains the auditory system and   brain, to process sound more effectively and optimally and by this, increase the ability and skill of listening which is the foundation of language, reading and writing.

Application of the Tomatis Method for Adults

Learning problems (written and oral)

Communication (spoken & sung voice)

Music (for professional musicians & teachers)

Personal development (energy, relaxation, balance)

Foreign language learning

Notable beneficiaries of the Tomatis Method® include Sting, Gerard Depardieu, Maria Callas and other internationally acclaimed musicians, singers and actors.

Program Delivery and Duration

The Tomatis Program can only be undertaken at The Listen And Learn Centre. Program duration varies from case to case however; a basic program is typically 60+ hours and is delivered over a five month period.

How to find out more

To find out much more about how the Tomatis Method can assist: 
visit the Tomatis Group International website and the Australian Tomatis Method website. 
 

The Listen and Learn Centre is an accredited member of the Tomatis Network in Australia and of the Tomatis Group Internationally. Martha Mack, Psychologist, is a member of the International Association of Registered Certified Tomatis Consultants.

For more information on the Tomatis Method from other sites around the globe, explore the following links:

To find out more about how the The Tomatis Method can assist you or a family member, please arrange to attend an info session.

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