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This approach is based on the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis, a French physician, ear, nose and throat specialist and developer of a therapeutic method that he named ‘Audio-Psycho-Phonologie’, better known now as Listening Training or Tomatis Method. Tomatis found that receptive and expressive communication, attention span, learning ability, social behavior, self-regulation, activity level, motor function and coordination are all related to ability to listen. He made a major distinction between hearing and listening. While hearing is the passive, involuntary function of sound perception, listening is active and voluntary.
Paul Madaule, a French-trained psychologist and Dr. Tomatis’ assistant in his Paris Centre, came to Toronto with Dr. Tomatis to open the Tomatis Centre and operated out of two locations in Toronto and one in Montreal from 1978 to 1984.
In 1984, Paul partnered with Tim Gilmor PhD, a registered psychologist, to open their clinic ‘The Listening Centre’. The Centre also became a teaching facility for professionals who were interested in the practice of Listening Training, helping them setting up Centers in the US, Mexico and Panama.
In 1990 Paul Madaule took over The Listening Centre and relocated on the second floor of a building in the Mirvish Village on Markham Street.
In 1993, Paul published his book When Listening Comes Alive. This publication and the media attention generated such an increase in clientele that the Centre had to move to a bigger space and relocated across the street to a 3-stories house, at 599 Markham Street until August 2016.
In 1995, the work at the Centre was the theme of two 1-hour TV documentaries produced and directed by Helga-Liz Haberfellner for the discovery Channel, The Child That You Do Have on the work of The Listening Centre on Autism and The Key to the World on reading and other Learning Disabilities.
In 1999, Paul and the team of the Centre created Listening Fitness with the LiFT®, a portable audio-device and professional training course that provided the Listening Training work to wider audiences. In some situations determined by the Consultant, the LiFT is used for home programs to complement the work done in the Centre for clients who live far away and who require prolonged programs and reinforcement ‘boosts’.
In 2015, Dr. Norman Doidge, author of the international best seller The Brain That Changes Itself on neuroplasticity, released his new book titled The Brain’s Way of Healing with one chapter, A Bridge of Sound, dedicated to the work of Dr. Tomatis, Paul Madaule and The Listening Centre.
In the fall of 2016 The Listening Centre moved to a new location in a totally renovated Victorian house at 94 Harbord Street Toronto in the Harbord Village.
In the fall of 2018, Rosalinde Tamburro began working at the Centre as a Listening Therapist following the completion of her masters in Expressive Arts Therapy and Psychology. She quickly fell in love with the work and starting working more and more closely with Paul, a kindred spirit. By the end of 2019, she was participating in all clinical consultations with Paul, getting all the hands-on experience and training she could get. By the start of 2020, Rosalinde was seeing clients on her own, with Paul by her side providing his mentorship.
In March of 2020, like the rest of the world, The Listening Centre was, too, affected and closed its doors to in-person listening training programs. With a reduced staff and office, the Centre continued to support its clients solely through home programs using the LiFT. Rosalinde and Paul continued to work closely together, and Rosalinde took on the work of the Centre’s administrative matters while simultaneously filling her role as Listening Consultant.
The activity of the Centre continued via home programs for 3 years, until in August 2023, The Centre took a sabbatical.
Beginning in August 2023, Rosalinde is continuing the listening training work through her own practice, Connect Listening. Paul remains close to the work as her mentor and good friend.