Solisten Sound Therapy (The Tomatis Method)
SOLISTEN is a sound training therapy providing pre-programmed selected and processed music to stimulate the Auditory Processing System. This stimulation enables a precise integration of acoustic information and allows the brain to better receive, select and process this information.
SOLISTEN is created by the owner of the Tomatis Method which combines over 50 years of experience with the latest research in neuroscience and cognitive science. The Tomatis Sound Training Therapy has helped millions of people worldwide.
- Auditory processing
- Sensory integration
- Speech and language
- Learning processes
- Concentration/attention/memory
- Posture and balance
- Motor coordination
The TOMATIS Method stimulates the brain: You can do the listening sessions repeatedly by using specially designed devices that stimulate the brain and progressively help it more effectively analyse the sensory message. ‘The Ear is learning to listen.’
Well-tuned listening can change your life: Your ear is not used only for hearing. It also stimulates your brain and establishes your balance. Well-tuned listening is therefore an essential component for promoting personal development.
Taking into account the fundamental role of sensory influence in human function, the Tomatis Method (Solisten) facilitates:
1. Attention Disorders including ADD/HD, Sensory Processing Problems: Attention disorders affect children and adults who cannot sufficiently concentrate on work to be done over long periods, even if this work requires only a minimum of intellectual effort or has a routine or familiar character to it (such as revising or recopying). A specific modality of attention is the capacity to divide one’s attention among several sources of information or tasks to be done. A deficiency in this attentional modality is not only very costly in a cognitive sense, but is also a source of difficulty and even considerable suffering for a child in a school setting.
Beyond its general action of cerebral stimulation (i.e., cortical charging), the TOMATIS Method can also have a very positive action on selective attention.
2. Language and Communication Disorders: Well-tuned listening is therefore not a function of how well we hear or of our ear’s sensitivity, but rather of how well we process what we hear, that is, of the quality of exploitation of our hearing. Difficulties in communication may show up as an inability to perceive sounds in the environment without feeling aggressed by them: For some people with a communication disorder, the honking of a car horn, the slamming of a door, the noisy ambiance of a restaurant, and even the familiar voices of co-workers, parents or friends may be perceived as aggressive …. Others suffering from different communication disorders find it difficult to use their voice as a true tool of communication, due to a lack of mastery over its different melodic components—intonation, inflection, rhythm, intensity —and these peoples’ voices may consequently be perceived as aggressive, cold, or void of any power of expression by another interlocutor. By specifically working on the reception and emission of sound, the TOMATIS Method acts effectively on communication.
3. Improves listening and auditory function (Auditory problems including problems with integration, discrimination, spatialisation, auditory lateralisation and the loss of the ability to isolate the auditory message and auditory memory)
4. Problems including the lack of control over the various components of the rhythm of speech; intonation, inflection, volume. Lacking control, the voice may be perceived as aggressive, cold, or devoid of any power of expression by the person being addressed
5. Learning Disorders and Processes: These difficulties have a neurobiological origin and arise from the fact that certain areas of the brain did not develop correctly during the prenatal period. Dyslexia (reading), Dysorthography (the relation of sounds to written letters), and Dyspraxia (the use and coordination of learned gestures), Dysphasia (for spoken language) and Dyscalculia (concerning mathematical functions and numbers) are affected. The TOMATIS Method operates on the plasticity of the neural circuits involved in the decoding and analysis of sounds, as well as on those involved in motricity, balance, and coordination. As such, the TOMATIS Method can help children develop compensatory strategies to deal with and manage their learning difficulties and language disorders.
6. Emotional Disorders: including depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, overwork, and loss of confidence (The process works brilliantly for anxiety and stress. (It energises the brain, grounds a person and improves self-confidence.) Stimulation may be impaired when the brain triggers a mechanism of inhibition or protection, which may occur following an isolated traumatic event known as emotional shock. The brain also tends to protect itself progressively when the external environment is perceived as aggressive. The TOMATIS Method acts on the limbic system in the medial part of the brain, to which the auditory system is linked. Among other things, this part of the brain is responsible for the mechanisms of emotion, memory, and learning. Moreover, an organ in the middle ear known as the cochlea plays the role of a cortical charger. By acting on the limbic system and prefrontal cortex, the TOMATIS Method intervenes in the regulation of emotional disorders related to depression and anxiety. It also acts on the regulation of stress.
7. Pervasive Developmental Disorders including Autism, Aspergers and Rett syndrome.
These are severe difficulties manifesting early in childhood development, and are characterised by delays in and alterations of the development of the capacities for social interaction, cognition, and communication. The neural circuits linking the ear to the brain contain specific neurons (both motor and sensory) called ‘mirror neurons’ that play an important role in the construction of social cognition, that is, the ensemble of the processes that allow you to attribute intentions and ideas to someone, and even to understand another person’s emotional state. The TOMATIS Method proposes to improve both the capacity to communicate and the quality of our relational abilities.
8. Other benefits:
- Behavioural Development
- Work on the body, posture and voice
- Improves on Learning foreign languages
- It has a beneficial impact on any Motor Disorders
- Low muscle tone
- Retardation
- Global Developmental Delay
- Excellent for first time pregnant moms (it reduces the stress of first time pregnancy; improves the bond between mother and child. The ear is 100% fully formed by 5 months gestation and is tuned in for the higher frequencies occurring in mom’s body. )
- Personal development and well-being
How does it work?
The Solisten Programme is based on the Tomatis Method. The TOMATIS Method was developed by Alfred TOMATIS (1920-2001), a French Ear Nose and Throat physician.
The TOMATIS Method is based on a number of concepts about how the human being develops, processes information, communicates with self and others and learns. Dr. TOMATIS developed a training process that enables the individual to regain skills of analysis, concentration and communication. The method simultaneously works on three core functions of the ear, namely hearing, balance and energy.
You or your child affected? What is the next step?
1. This first contact, the practitioner will assess the client’s problem through tests and questionnaires. This assessment is essential to determine whether a course of auditory stimulation should be advised or not.
2. The programme is determined depending on the evaluation and based on the presenting situation to be treated.
3. Like any muscle stimulation device, the results are sustainable if the listening sessions are maintained on a regular and consistent basis. Listening sessions can take place in the comfort of your home with the SOLISTEN device. A listening session lasts 2 hours. For the most effective results, it is recommended for two 15-day sessions of 2 hours per day with a break of 4 to 6 weeks between sessions.
WHAT RESULTS ARE OBTAINED WITH THE TOMATIS METHOD?
In addition to the positive results achieved with our clients and which have made our reputation, our method has also proven its effectiveness scientifically. The research continues to grow as the areas of application of the method are extended.
Research
1. A school study in Colombia was implemented by Sylvia Lozano, speech therapist and Tomatis consultant.”Do children between the ages of 5 and 6 exposed to the Tomatis Method show a differential effect in their communicative, linguistic, cognitive and emotional skills compared to musical stimulation in a typical classroom scenario?” Using a pre-test post-test design, the intervention was implemented in 3 phases of 20 hours each with a break between phases. Listening abilities and attention improved for Group 1 participants. This group had significant results in communicative, linguistic and cognitive categories. Better socialisation with classmates and adults and improved presentation of their work, improved vocabulary, reading and writing. The project concluded that the Tomatis method overall helped develop communicative, linguistic, emotional and cognitive abilities and therefore is a useful tool in prevention within school stimulation. (Lozano, 2006)
2. Du Plessis Study (University of Potchefstroon-South Africa) Pre / Post level anxiety. The TOMATIS group showed a significant reduction in anxiety, while results were mixed for those who received psychotherapy and non-existent for the control group.
Testimonial:
“As for the Solisten program: It played a very important part in his development and if I had to do things over with another child, I would certainly include the Solisten system. Personally I feel it falls part of an integrated and holistic approach. Remember that my husband and I are totally against concentration drugs of any kind. We did not want to resort to Concerta or Ritalin. Indeed Solisten played an important role and I am sure it worked in the context of matters… One has to use it in conjunction with other therapies to obtain the required results.”