“My voice rose by an octave” — a session with the English filter

Documentary testimony. A personal experience recounted by Toni Maha Evangelopoulos, psychologist, scientific director of the Tomatis Centre in Greece (EPT TV, April 2010). Translated from Greek.

Anyone who wishes to practise audio-psycho-phonology must first undergo their own sound therapy. Evangelopoulos recounts her first session in the booth:

“I was in the booth with a Greek book, and I began to read. I noticed that my voice was rising by at least an octave, becoming very high-pitched, and that I could not bring it back down. Frightened, I see the door open: the technician for the Electronic Ear settings comes in and says to me: ‘We do apologise, we had set you to the acoustic filter of the English language.’”

Since the “acoustic crible” of English lies in the high frequencies, her voice had risen — and could not come back down towards the mid frequencies of Greek. She sees in it the lived illustration of Tomatis’s first law: the voice follows what the ear hears.

Editor’s note: this account illustrates a principle defended by Tomatis; it is reproduced as a personal testimony, not as a scientific demonstration.