Chronology — Alfred Tomatis

This chronology brings together the dated landmarks of the life and work of Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001). It is intended as a companion to the Biography, which provides the continuous narrative. Where a document held on the site attests to a particular landmark, a link to the Archives is given. Certain dates are known only approximately: these are stated with the caution the sources allow.

Origins and training

Late December 1919 / 1 January 1920 — Born in Nice. The civil register records 1 January 1920; in his autobiography, Tomatis states that he was in fact born a few days earlier, in late December 1919. He came into the world severely premature, at six and a half months.
Around 1931 — Aged eleven, on his father’s decision, he was sent alone to Paris to continue his schooling.
1940s — Medical studies in occupied Paris. Mobilised into the medical service, he served as a battalion physician, was assigned to a youth labour camp, and joined the Resistance as a liaison agent. He passed the externship of the Paris hospitals, completed several science certificates at the Sorbonne, and trained notably under the neurologist André Thomas.
In the immediate post-war years — Doctorate in medicine. He chose otorhinolaryngology as his specialism.

The founding discovery and the Electronic Ear

1947 — Working with both singers in vocal difficulty and workers exposed to industrial noise, Tomatis formulated the proposition that would underpin his entire œuvre: a subject can only reproduce vocally what they are able to hear — “we sing with our ear”.
Early 1950s — Development of the first Electronic Ear devices, still rudimentary and based on manual switching.
1952 — Tomatis was removed from the hospital service in which he was working — by his own account, not for professional misconduct but for having presented his work himself instead of submitting it under his superior’s name.
1952-1954 — Contributions to the Bulletin de la SFECMAS: dynamic audiometry, the directing ear, occupational deafness. → SFECMAS Bulletins 1952-1954
1954 — By introducing electronic gating into the device, Tomatis gave the Electronic Ear its definitive form — and its name.

The Tomatis Effect and the diffusion of the method

1957 and 1960 — Communications presented to the Académie nationale de médecine in Paris. → Communications to the Academy of Medicine
Late 1950s — Experimental demonstration of the principles Tomatis had identified — the “Tomatis laws” — conducted with the physiologist Raoul Husson and the Sorbonne physiology laboratory directed by Professor Monnier. The findings were deposited, under the name effet Tomatis, with the Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
From the 1950s onwards — Development of audio-psycho-phonology (APP). Initially intended for singers and voice disorders, it was progressively extended to language and learning difficulties, attention disorders and foreign-language acquisition. The method diffused internationally and centres associated with it were established in many countries.
1972 — Second Congress of Audio-Psycho-Phonology, Paris. → Congresses and colloquia
1972-1977 — Interviews with the journalist Alain Gerber, published in SON Magazine. → Alain Gerber interviews

Controversies and final years

1977 — Publication of L’Oreille et la Vie, his best-known book, which combines autobiographical narrative with an exposition of his research. The same year, Tomatis was struck off the French medical register (Ordre des médecins).
Final decades — Tomatis devoted increasing attention to psychology and to philosophical and spiritual reflection, a trajectory that led him notably to conversion to Catholicism.
1988 — A former patient brought legal action following sessions she deemed unsuccessful.
1993 — Conviction for the unauthorised practice of medicine.
25 December 2001 — Alfred Tomatis died in Carcassonne. He is buried in the cemetery of La Conte.

After 2001 — the legacy

From 2001 onwards — The continuation of his work had been entrusted to his son Christian Tomatis and to his collaborator Thierry Gaujarengues, the founders of the company Tomatis Développement. The method continues through several lineages — companies, professional associations, independent practitioners.
2017 — Colloquium marking the 60th anniversary of the Tomatis Effect. → Congresses and colloquia

Sources and conventions

The dates gathered here are drawn from the Biography — itself based on the autobiography L’Oreille et la Vie — and from the documents preserved in the Archives of this site. Where the sources permit only an approximate dating, the landmark is given with cautious phrasing (“around”, “in the early…”). This chronology will be refined as primary sources come to confirm or correct the entries.