A.F.A.P.P. Bulletin No. 15 (August 1978)

Inter-Centre Bulletin No. 15, dated August 1978. The cover bears the heading “Association Internationale d’Audio-Psycho-Phonologie” and the title “Bulletin A.-P.-P. Inter Centres” (referred to in the text by the acronym B.I.C.); the sections also relate to the activity of the French association (A.F.A.P.P.). The issue is published from the Paris secretariat and accompanied, as a supplement, by an information note and a brochure devoted to the “Listening Test”.

The issue is built around a feature on the method’s information policy. The editorial “For an APP information policy” sets out a series of observations: despite the interest shown by the press, favourable articles struggle to appear, word of mouth remains the main vector of diffusion, and quality information has yet to be built without lapsing into the medical register or the image of a “psy technique”. From this it draws three conclusions on the necessity, the prudence and the role of accurate information. There follows the report of a study meeting held on 10 June 1978 in a centre in the Paris region, at the initiative of the method’s founding couple and of collaborators; it examines the targets, the means (contacts with schools and institutions, free listening tests, local surveys, meetings and audiovisual presentations, paid recourse to the press depending on the country) and the development of an overall policy.

The rest of the bulletin gathers practical and documentary sections: an order form and the list of the network’s publications; a sheet of technical advice (“A headphone fails on the left…”) explaining how to locate a fault between the device and the headphones; a detailed catalogue of tapes, including an “integration of languages” series with their coding system (language, voice, filtering, sonic birth) for English, German, Lebanese Arabic and other languages; a section “The audio-psycho-phonologist and his correspondence” offering an anonymised model letter intended for a pupil’s school staff to encourage daily reading aloud; a commented press review; and information on the listening test as well as an announcement of a training course.

Historical context — In 1978, the audio-psycho-phonology method developed by Alfred Tomatis was spreading through an international network of centres relayed in France by the A.F.A.P.P. This issue illustrates the effort to organise the network and the reflection conducted to make the method known to the public, families, the school environment and the press, while rooting it in a pedagogical practice distinct from medical discourse. The names of private individuals mentioned in the original document are not reproduced here.