Tomatis Discoveries

The Tomatis® Method was created and perfected by Alfred TOMATIS (born January 1, 1920, died December 25, 2001), a French doctor who specialized in Audio-Psycho-Phonology (APP). He devoted a significant part of his professional life studying the relation between the ear and the voice, and by extension, between listening and communication.

His discoveries were made in the Sorbonne’s physiology laboratory and were presented to the Academy of the Sciences and the Academy of Medicine in Paris in 1957 and 1960.

These discoveries were named the « Tomatis® Laws » :

  1. The voice only contains what the ear can hear ; “The voice produces what the ear hears (Dr. Tomatis) and the ear emits the same stressed frequencies that are emitted by the voice. (Davis, 2002)”
  2. If hearing is modified, the voice is immediately and unconsciously modified ;
  3. It is possible to transform phonation permanently by means of auditory stimulation undertaken over a certain time (the law of remanence).
  4. Davis Addendum to the Tomatis Effect With one hundred percent (100%) correlation, two new laws are suggested as an addition to Dr. Tomatis' law

    New Law 1: The ear emits the same stressed frequencies that are emitted by the voice
    New Law 2: When complementary or supplementary frequencies of stressed frequencies are introduce

    Alfred Tomatis wrote 14 books including the highly successful The Ear and Language (1963), The Ear and Life (1977), The Ear and Voice (1987), School Troubles (1988), Nine months in Paradise (1989), Why Mozart? (1991). These books reflect the will of Alfred Tomatis to make his approach understandable and to speak directly to a wide audience. He faced sharp criticism from some of his colleagues who did not appreciate his approach.