About Us

How was Sound Therapy invented?

Sound Therapy was originally developed by the ear specialist, Dr Tomatis, who has brought to public attention more than any other researcher, the vital importance of the ear to our overall health. He was one of the first to investigate the auditory environment of the foetus. His theory was that the auditory relationship between baby and mother lays the foundation for all our other relationships and is therefore the crucial point of intervention to bring about change in the person's psychological response to sound and language. In the 1940s Tomatis devised a system of taking the listener back through the auditory experience of being in the womb and first learning to identify sound. He called this process 'sonic birth'. He began this path of discovery when he learned that if baby birds are hatched under silent foster mothers, the hatchlings will be unable to learn to sing.

The Tomatis Effect

As his initial concern was with hearing loss, Tomatis's first experiments dealt with altering the auditory curve. When there is loss of hearing in a particular frequency it is generally not a total loss - it just means that those frequencies are heard at a lower level. (This is called a scotoma.) Tomatis designed an apparatus called the Electronic Ear, which could manipulate the frequencies of sounds, so it could match a sound to the person's auditory curve, or it could do the opposite. It could boost the deficient frequencies to make the person hear as a normal ear would hear.

Initially Tomatis worked with singers who had lost certain frequencies from their voices. He found that the dead spots in the voice exactly matched the dead spots on the audiogram, and by correcting the hearing with the Electronic Ear he could restore the missing frequencies to the voice. Thus he framed his first law: The voice contains only those sounds that the ear can hear .

Some years later, the Canadian author, Patricia Joudry, adapted the method for cassette and launched the portable program.

How was our portable method developed?

Patricia Joudry, a Canadian author underwent the Tomatis treatment in the late 1970s and experienced total relief of her chronic insomnia, exhaustion, writers block and the listening disorder for which she was first referred to the treatment, "The Cocktail Effect", which is the inability to discriminate between different sounds in a noisy environment.

Joudry then linked up with some Benedictine monks in Saskatchewan who had trained with Tomatis specialists and were using his method in their special school. The monks offered their full support and facilities to Joudry to put out the Tomatis method on cassette for use with a personal cassette player with a good frequency response. S

Through the advent of the self help system, Sound Therapy became accessible all over the world. The Joudry method overcame the three major obstacles to widespread success for the Tomatis method, access, affordability and long term use. The long term treatment made possible by this method extended its effectiveness into the arenas of hearing loss, tinnitus and the long term treatment of many neurological and stress related disorders. Patricia and Rafaele Joudry's book, Sound Therapy: Music to Recharge Your Brain, tells the full story of the development of the self help method. Now in its tenth edition.

Rafaele Joudry has gone on to write other books, has trained hundreds of practitioners in the use of Sound Therapy and lectures constantly to community and professional groups around the world. Sound Therapy International, the company, is the culmination of the vision developed by Patricia and Rafaele Joudry to create enhanced listening around the world.

Once the Joudry Sound Therapy cassettes were on the market (at that time it was analogic sound cassettes because digital sound erases high frequencies; in 2006, a new way to engrave high frequenies sounds was discovered) reports started coming in of unexpected results. People reporting recovery from depression, insomnia, chronic fatigue, tinnitus and hearing loss. The longer term treatment made possible with the portable system meant results were being maintained and more benefits were being discovered.

About Patricia Joudry 1921 -2000

Born in Spirit River , Alberta , Canada , Patricia carved out a successful career in radio in her twenties. As well as creating serious dramas for the stage she wrote the top rating radio comedy series The Aldrich Family .

She then spent some years in England raising a family and devoted herself to esoteric study and more serious writing. Her published works include two novels: The Dweller on the Threshold , and The Selena Tree , two autobiographical books , And the Children Played and Spirit River to Angel's Roost: Religions I have loved and left , and a non-fiction book, Twin Souls , co-authored with Dr. Maurie Pressman.

Due to sound sensitivity, Patricia's life was an obstacle course of fearsome noise. The resulting stress meant chronic exhaustion and years of insomnia. Unexpected events led to the discovery that changed her life. Just a few weeks of Sound Therapy meant peaceful sleep and a new breakthrough in energy she had never dreamed possible. Patricia's self help Sound Therapy has helped thousands and found its way by word of mouth to over 45 countries.

About Sound Therapy International

Sound Therapy International was established by Patricia and Rafaele Joudry in 1989 to bring Sound Therapy to all those who need it. The mission of Sound Therapy International is creating enhanced listening around the world. The company supplies the complete range of books, tapes and listening devices developed by Patricia and Rafaele Joudry.

Our listening programs suit all ages and offer the same benefits that are available through clinical Tomatis treatment. The advantage of the portable system is that it is much more affordable and allows long term listening which brings sustained and continued benefits over a lifetime.

Comparisons

How does Sound Therapy differ from other therapeutic listening programs on the market?

Rhythm versus Frequency

A number of other sound applications have been developed using specific rhythms to entrain the brain and induce greater states of relaxation. (Essentially entrainment means the brain waves are slowed down and brought into synch with the rhythm of the music or sounds.) These may be seen under the names of SuperLearning, Holosynch or Hemisynch among others.

Sound Therapy is different to these programs because it uses varied frequencies to physically reactivate the ear. By stimulating and enhancing ear function, the therapy has a profound restorative effect on the brain and the entire nervous system. Sound Therapy impacts on many ear related and neurological conditions not addressed by other methods.

Since the ear responds to sound whether we are conscious of it or not, Sound Therapy does not require conscious attention to work. Hence it can be played as you are engaged in other activities, unlike the entrainment programs which require your full focus to be effective.