Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis

1920 - 2001

Dr. Tomatis is the founder of the method which bears his name. He was the first scientist who, as early as the 1950’s, discovered that the ear plays a fundamental role in voice production, singing, speech, language, motor skills and coordination. This allowed him to describe a distinction between hearing and listening. The idea of using sound stimulation to improve listening and related skills is one of his greatest contributions.

Dr. Tomatis’ theories and techniques are now used all over the world and continue to influence an increasing number of clinicians and educators. For example, the idea that auditory processing is essential for speech development as well as attentional and learning ability was already described by Dr.Tomatis more than 50 years ago. He was also the first one to make us aware of the unborn child’s ability to hear in the womb. Dr. Tomatis is the author of a dozen books. Three of them, “The Conscious Ear” and “The Ear and Language” and “The Ear and the Voice” were translated into English.

Dr. Tomatis was very active in setting up the Tomatis Centre in Toronto which then became The Listening Centre. Dr. Tomatis and his wife Lena frequently visited Montreal and Ottawa from the 1950’s to the 1980’s and they spent most of their time in Toronto from 1979 to 1981. Dr. Tomatis passed away in 2001 and Lena Tomatis passed away in 2016.