New tinnitus treatment technology available at Arizona hearing clinics

A local clinic is using the power of sound to mitigate a growing hearing problem. Annalisa Pardo explains. If you're hearing ringing in your ear that others aren't, you're actually not alone. Some people have musical sounds in their ears. Cicadas is a really common one that we hear. Anything that you're really experiencing internally but you're not hearing it in your environment could be considered tinnitus. According to the American Tinnitus Association, more than 50 million Americans experience tinnitus. You get stuck in this tunnel of like, I have to just live like this. And that can become really hard, like, psychologically to manage. And Dr. Madison Brown at Sound Relief Tinnitus and Hearing Center in Mesa and Scottsdale is trying to help. They have their headphones on. And they press the space bar every time they hear a tone. The clinics just rolled out new technology that uses frequency to target and manage tinnitus. When a patient comes in, the clinic tests 67 different frequencies to get a full picture of their auditory system and identify patterns or tinnitus that's undetected. The clinic also gets to know the lifestyle of the patient. We want to know about their stress and their sleep patterns because those are things that are giving us cues to how people are People might be experiencing tinnitus and what might be causing that. Tinnitus can also come from exposure to a loud noise or years of too loud earbuds or simple wear and tear. Even if you were going to concerts in the 80s, you know, yes, it's been a long time. But over time, the hair cells that are rooted in our hearing organ become worn down. She helps people experiencing tinnitus know you don't have to live with it. She says understanding tinnitus is the first step. In managing it, we are tapping into neuroplasticity and our auditory system can harness that power as well. So when we can make some changes in the way our brain is perceiving, the way our brain is functioning, we're harnessing that power that already lives inside of us. Annalisa Pardo, Fox 10 News.