The Voice and The Inner Ear

There has been much substantiated research in the area of vocal health and overall health. One of the early researchers was the French inventor Alfred Tomatis (1st January 1920 – 25th December 2001) who received his Doctorate in Medicine from the Paris School of Medicine. His theory was based on the idea that incorrect hearing was the root cause of a number of ailments.

Alfred Tomatis grew up in a musical family in France. His father was a singer, and Alfred spent much of his childhood traveling with him and watching his opera performances from the wings. At an early age, however, he and his parents decided that medicine was a better route and so Alfred became an Ear, Nose and Throat physician.

Soon after he began his practice, his father began to refer him opera colleagues with vocal problems. Tomatis soon discovered traditional treatments were inadequate but also that there was very little research on the voice itself. He formulated the theory that many vocal problems were really hearing problems. His theory that "the voice does not produce what the ear does not hear", is the hallmark of his research and his method.

He discovered that the voices of opera singers had damaged their own muscles of the middle ears. With damaged hearing, they were forcing their voices to produce sounds in registers they could no longer hear. In his attempt to retrain his patients, he developed the Electronic Ear, a device which utilizes electronic gating, bone conduction transducers and sound filters to enhance the uppermost missing frequencies. The goal is to tonify the muscles of the middle ear in order to sensitize the listener to the missing frequencies.

Tomatis began treating a number of other problems with the same methods, including reading problems, dyslexia, depression, severe schizophrenia, and even autism. He found evidence that many of these problems result from a failure of communication, which has to do with listening and the ear.

Scientific reports showed that the ear starts forming a few days after conception and that the ear is fully developed by the fourth month of pregnancy. Tomatis theorized that information coming from the fetal ear stimulates and guides the development of the brain. He believed that a number of auditory communication problems begin in pregnancy, with the fetus not properly responding to the voice of the mother.

Tomatis theorized that the whole body is involved in the production of speech and language. He stated that reading, even silent reading, is an activity of the ear. He recommended reading out loud, not only for children and by children, but also by adults, for 30 minutes a day. He claimed this not only stimulates the brain but is the best way to learn.

His most controversial method attempts to lead autistic children to recognize and respond to their mother's voice. The electronic ear, he maintained, could simulate the sound of the mother's voice as heard in the uterus, and to lead the child gradually to accept and respond to her real unfiltered voice. He reported that this method often brought startling results, with children crying with joy as they recognized their mother's voice for the first time.

In many of the differing issues he addressed, Tomatis believed that many problems of learning disabilities, dyslexia, schizophrenia, and depression were caused by some trauma resulting from broken relationships and poor communication.

These traumas often show up in the singing voice which can mildly or severely restrict the singer. There is some efficacy in therapies such as EFT, (Emotional Freedom Technique) and The Energy Codes, a system of clearing past traumas which have been trapped in our bodies.

Excellent resources for more information on this subject can be found in Don Campbell’s The Mozart Effect and The Emotion Code by Dr Bradley Nelson.