What is The Tomatis Method?

The Tomatis Method was developed by a French Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, Dr. Alfred Tomatis.He spent most of his life studying and researching the ear and communication.
Listening is the ability to tune into selected sounds and understand their meanings, and so is different to hearing which is simply passive.

He developed a piece of equipment called the Electronic Ear.
It trains the ear to listen effectively, re-enforces the desire to communicate and, by acting on the Vestibular system, affects the whole body.

Tomatis: The Laws
1.The voice contains only what the ear hears.
2.If one gives the imperfect ear the chance of hearing correctly, the voice instantly and unconsciously improves.
3.It is possible to transform the voice through auditive stimulation over a certain period of time.

The Electronic Ear provides this simulation.

What is the Electronic Ear?
The Electronic Ear is a unique piece of equipment researched and developed by Dr. Alfred Tomatis in the 1950s. It makes the implementation of the Tomatis Effect possible and is unique to the Tomatis Method.

The Electronic Ear is connected to a sound source, either a CD player or a Microphone. The Electronic Ear acts on this sound and sends it on to a unique set of headphones. These headphones allow the person wearing them to experience sound through both Air and Bone conduction.

The Electronic Ear acts on the sound source using various sophisticated mechanisms. The effect that these modified sounds have is to stimulate different parts of the ear and effect the way in which a person listens to external sound and how they listen to their own voice.

The Electronic Ear acts on the sound using,
An Electronic gating system that stimulates the muscles of the middle ear. Forcing them to contract and relax.

A function which allows for the control of Latency time. This acts on the speed at which a person's ear can adapt to external sound sources. For example a person's ability to focus on a voice far away or someone speaking in a noisy environment. It also affects their ability to tune out unwanted sounds, the washing machine or a television downstairs.

Another function of the Electronic Ear is Precession control. This function regulates the way in which a person receives sound signals, through bone and air conduction. This brings about a phenomenon described as auditory anticipation, which is important for the correct functioning of the inner ear.

Balance control encourages the right ear to become the dominant ear. This is important because the right ear has a more direct link to the language centre in the left hemisphere of our brains.