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Tomatis, Autism and Sensory Integration

.......Tomatis Topics

E nergy Function 1

When Tomatis examined the role of the cochlea branch of the auditory nerve phylogenetically he saw a function of the ear that was much more basic than hearing. The cochlea nerve from the outset was meant to recharge the brain with electrical potential. Tomatis felt this quite early in his treatment of singers. He noticed euphoria when he imposed high frequencies and the opposite when he cut them. (Remember he was looking at how high frequency listening was involved in audio-vocal control).

He noticed within his clients that those with a decline in the high frequencies were more depressed. When he could get a singer to sing with a voice rich in harmonics their whole body was energized and this audio-vocal loop became self-fulfilling. He also noticed that the concentration of Corti cells was much denser in the portion of the basilar membrane that perceives high frequency sound. This is translates as much more electrical potential sent to the brain from this region. 80% of the 24,000 hair cells in the cochlea respond to sounds 3000Hz and above.

He observed that there were modifications in the electroencephalogram of the temporal area when auditory impulses sent with the presence or lack of auditory input. He placed water in the subject's ear with two balls so that the water didn't escape and he studied the EEG's for the following two hours. In about two hours the EEG was flat indicating that the cortical charge was non-existent.

Sensory deprivation studies, particularly Stanley Jones, supported Tomatis' findings. The brain needs three billion stimuli per second for at least four and a half hours per day in order to maintain conscious, (for our brain to be charged.) In order for the brain to remain dynamic, to think, and operate with vitality, it must have sensory stimuli Tomatis estimates that up to 90% of cortical stimulation comes from the ear. 60% coming from the body (skin, bones, joints, and muscles) 30% coming from sound

This is then processed by the cochlear nerve. As mentioned the Corti cells that send electrical potential to the cochlear nerve are some of the oldest on the planet. It's the same type of cell that we find in the utricle, saccule and the semi-circular canals. They are the first sensory cells and they exist in the most primitive life forms on the planet, such as jellyfish. They cluster together in what is the earliest form of a nervous system and they serve to provide energy to the organism.

In the earliest forms of fish, their nervous system is nothing more than a tube down each side that is situated where the scales seem to form. When liquid is injected in the tube (called the lateral line) the fins flap. At this stage in evolution water currents rippling over the organism stimulated the function, causing the fish to flap the fins and move As the fish moves through water the flapping of the fins the fluid in the lateral line charges the fishes system. In the next level of fish, the system becomes more differentiated with separate nervous system (primitive brain) yet the same system of cortical stimulation from a newer version of these corti cells called otoliths. Now however the fish had control over movement and initiated movement to stimulate the nervous system.

We have gone through many adaptations in order to have the ear that we possess today. For example reptile from whom we are descended, hear through their limbs via bone conduction, when they arrived on land. This primitive ear, still exists in the architecture of the human ear today, (in all of us), and still plays its' vital role in charging the nervous system with energy potential. Well before the 4 and 1/2 months of fetal development when the ear is fully formed in its' more modern functions, the bulbular ear is formed and available, charging the nervous system for its rapid expansion. This bulbular ear is the most archaic, after which olfaction forms, then vision, and finally the neo-cortex, where hearing appears. So the auditory nerve is the most archaic and the most recent of our sensory paraphernalia.

The Cochlea Function
The cochlear analyses and decode sounds from outside the body as well as sounds generated from within the body by the voice.

  • Perceive sound (hear)
  • Protection against loud noises
  • Locate sounds spatially (why we have two ears)
  • Discriminate sounds - tell differences in frequencies
  • Perceive sounds against competing background
  • Discriminate differences in tone and pitch


    It is only much higher in the nervous system that we start to process sound and attach meaning to it. The role of analyzing and decoding sounds from the outside. The analysis of sounds from our own body particularly our own voice. These two must go hand in hand - we perceive the voice of others and we perceive our own. We protect ourselves against out side noises as well as our own voice. It is this relationship established by the audio-vocal loop that Tomatis felt so important.

    Tomatis delineated that the cochlea and vestibule are one system with two ways to analyze movement. The vestibule analyzes larger movements that are generated by the body and the bodies movement through space The cochlea analyzes the finer movements of air and bone vibration, smaller acoustical movements, perceived as sound. The vestibular apparatus can analyses movements of different amplitudes. It can hear up to 1000 hertz, however in an undifferentiated manner. Its cochlear part is sensitive to movements on a molecular scale such as sound vibrations: it governs the function of hearing. Tomatis felt that this cochlear function of the analysis of sound was important in the evolution of language but it is not enough.

    • F unctions of the Ear Verticality These are all the vestibular-based functions; balance; muscle tonus, all the gestures or non-verbal language of the body with the environment, praxis. Verticality and Language

    In the course of human evolution we appropriated the ears vestibular function for a secondary function of Verticality. "We have appropriated this equilibrium device to make it a tool of verticality." Tomatis emphasized the importance of verticality for the evolution of the human brain. It is commensurate with an upright posture that we see the tremendous increase in the brain size of our humanoid ancestors. "This is an enormous problem, for we are not yet ready to attain the vertical position, we are only on the way towards it."

    As we have just discussed Tomatis' study of the evolution of the human ear, that it had a primary function of enabling the organisms' receptivity to vibration. (in whatever form) The upright posture allows the human being to be a vibrating antenna attentively receptive to all the information coming from the environment and one's own body. "It is impossible," claims Tomatis, "to arrive at good language with verticality, or to stimulate the brain to full consciousness."

    L aterality

    Tomatis believed that the development of laterality was dependent phylogenetically on the vestibular system. He describes how lateralization and the specialization of cerebral functions were essential for the development of language. With out laterality we wouldn't have language. He also noticed that laterality provides the link between knowing (gnosis) and acting (praxis) and therefore is very much involved in the processes of praxis and executive functions.