The Tomatis® Method

When you’re stressed, anxious or depressed, it can feel as if your system is stuck on high alert: your mind won’t settle, your body stays tense and sleep and focus elude you. The Tomatis® Method is a listening-based programme designed to support regulation by working through the ear–brain connection.

What it is

Developed from the work of French ENT (ear, nose & throat) specialist Alfred Tomatis, the method uses specially processed music and voice delivered through headphones. It addresses issues impacting:

• motor and control,
• emotion,
• attention,
• learning,
• speech and language 
• and even Autism Spectrum Disorders.

What you do

A Tomatis® programme is delivered in episodes over multiple sessions. After an initial assessment, you carry out structured listening sessions where you can relax, read, draw or do gentle activities while the programme runs. Practitioners may include voice work depending on goals. Progress is tracked in practical ways:

• sleep quality,
• calmness,
• emotional reactivity,
• concentration
• and recovery after stress.

How it may help with stress, anxiety and depression

People often explore Tomatis® because it feels like nervous-system support: a way to treat problems from the “bottom up”, not just by thinking differently. Potential benefits people report include:

• a calmer baseline and less “wired and tired”
• fewer spirals of worry and rumination
• improved sleep and recovery
• steadier mood and better focus under pressure

A note on evidence

Although Tomatis began to develop his program in the 1950s, there are few scientific papers to support it, largely because large scale double blind randomised controlled trials require the cooperation of medical professionals, who, largely until the early 2000s, didn’t believe the brain could change itself and disdainfully ignored Tomatis’s work.

Nevertheless, I usually use Tomatis® as an adjunct; something to complement my normal therapy practice.