Living with tinnitus, hyperacusis, or other hearing concerns? Schedule an appointment at Sound
Relief Tinnitus & Hearing Center in Mesa, AZ - one of nine family-owned facilities located
throughout Arizona and Colorado. We offer expert hearing health care to Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa.
Our audiologists specialize in technologically-advanced treatments for tinnitus, resulting in an
exceptional standard of care. Our compassionate team has helped thousands of people drastically
improve their lives.
Sarah is a Colorado native and moved to Gilbert, Arizona back in 2018 with her husband, Sam. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in audiology and speech-language sciences and her Doctorate in Audiology from the University of Northern Colorado. Sarah had an opportunity to work in a variety of clinical settings including public schools, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and neurotology before joining the Sound Relief team at the Mesa location.
Outside of work, Sarah enjoys travel, trying new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends.
Dr. Pitrone is committed to providing excellent care and finding a personalized treatment solution for each patient.
Layla Fotouhi joined our team as the Patient Care Coordinator of our Scottsdale office in May 2019 and is now an Audiology Assistant and Team Lead of our Arizona offices. She was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. After moving to Arizona, she couldn’t get enough of the sun! Her background is in Cosmetology, and she was also a Certified Nursing Assistant. Fun fact: Layla placed in the Wisconsin State Pageant for National American Miss.
To advance her ability to help people, she has taken classes at Nova Southeastern University and has become a Certified Audiology Assistant. “I love seeing patients happy and making those connections that last!”
Outside of work, Layla loves playing with her pup, Paris, traveling, trying new restaurants, and hiking to catch sunrises and sunsets. Layla always represents her hometown teams, the Packers, the Bucks, and the Brewers!
How do you treat tinnitus?
Our doctors customize a sound therapy plan specific to each patient.
What is sound therapy?
A process using soothing sounds to rewire the brain.
Tinnitus can disrupt everything - your mood, thoughts, feelings, work, social-life, and overall well-being. We stop the vicious cycle of tinnitus using Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, or TRT. When customized appropriately to an individual’s needs, it is a highly successful approach to treating tinnitus.
More specifically, TRT uses sound therapy and directive counseling over 12 – 24 months to properly deal with the three systems involved: the auditory system (hearing), the limbic system (emotions), and the autonomic nervous system (flight or fight response). Over our many years of helping patients with tinnitus, we have developed and refined our treatment protocols, evaluated countless new technology offerings, and invested in our people and equipment to provide the best outcomes in the industry. We have been able to provide life-changing results for over 80% of our patients, and we can help you too.
This groundbreaking educational counseling platform is built on the foundation of twenty years of helping tinnitus patients.
Designed to enhance our already robust approach to Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), Sound Relief Learning Center drives active learning, a crucial aspect of the treatment process. Combined with the expert guidance of our audiologists, we expect patients to achieve even better outcomes and faster results.
With comprehensive modules, assessments, and additional resources, our patients are uniquely positioned for success. Research shows that a complete understanding of the neurophysiologic model of tinnitus is necessary to regain control and break negative emotional associations with tinnitus. Sound Relief Learning Center provides the education and tools under one “roof” to facilitate the most effective implementation of TRT to achieve patient goals.
There are a multitude of different Digital Hearing Aids available at Sound Relief. Features include:
- Dual microphones to improve your ability to hear in noisy environments. The two microphones create separate signals that combine to help you distinguish the direction of the sound waves. Some devices can even identify the source of a noise and reduce it.
- Open technology eliminates occlusion by keeping the ear canal unobstructed and produces a more natural sound experience.
- Feedback cancellation cancels out any acoustic feedback before you hear it as an irritating whistle. Digital hearing aids can monitor these signals and remove them before amplification occurs.
- Hands-free technology allows your hearing aid to automatically adjust to your listening environment. So if something is affecting your ability to hear, the digital device will identify it and acclimate to the situation.
- Computer programming allows personalization of your hearing device. Using a computer, you can adjust your device’s settings to ensure they meet your needs.
- Wireless technology allows your hearing aids to act similar to headphones. You can connect and listen to devices like your cell phone, home phone, and television directly through your digital hearing aids.
Sound Relief is a Premier Provider for the Lyric by Phonak based on our high level of care. Lyric is the first-ever 100% invisible hearing device with extended wearing capability. This technology can sit in the ear canal and be used 24/7 for up to 4 months. There is no need to change the device or maintenance required. The Lyric can be used during daily activities such as work, exercise, bathing, chatting on the phone and sleeping.
Sound Therapy for Hyperacusis
Although a cure to quickly eliminate hyperacusis does not currently exist, therapies can improve the sufferer’s quality of life by reducing their fear and anxieties, helping them cope with uncomfortable sounds, and even reducing their sensitivity to sounds. For example, sound therapy can retrain the brain’s auditory processing center to accept everyday sounds as normal again. The individual wears a sound generator that produces soft, soothing sounds that can be controlled by the patient. Over the course of about 6 to 12 months, regular use of the device and directive counseling on appropriate levels of sound and responses to them can rebuild the individual’s tolerance to sounds. Sound therapy requires directive counseling by a qualified audiologist in order for it to be effective.
Sound Therapy for Misophonia
Misophonia is best treated with a multidisciplinary approach (i.e., primary care physician, psychology, audiology). As Audiologists, we specialize in helping to rewire the auditory portion of the brain while calming the nervous system using prescriptive sound therapy. Over time, the ultimate goal of sound therapy is to help neutralize the trigger sounds so that the reflex response to them no longer occurs. Most patients without underlying damage to their auditory system can totally stop the misophonic reactions to their trigger sounds post-treatment. Careful guidance is needed by an experienced professional to help in this process.
Our team has over 50 years of experience working with all hearing aid styles and all of the hearing aid manufacturers – past and present. You will not be able to surprise us with anything – new or old.
We do require that you visit one of our eight locations (located in Colorado and Arizona) with your hearing aid so that we can see how it fits in your ear. While there may be a few cases where a hearing aid is beyond repair, most of the time can fix it quickly and at no charge.
We can fix hearing aids made by most manufacturers including Oticon, Phonak, ReSound, Widex, Starkey, and many more. If you bought Costco hearing aids or ordered hearing aids online, they may not be worth the cost of the repair. Wherever you purchased your devices, we can give you an honest opinion of whether an out-of-warranty repair is a wise investment or not.
If you are struggling with tinnitus - ringing in the ears, these resources are designed to help you find relief.
Dr. Julie Prutsman of Sound Relief details six self-help techniques to help manage your tinnitus.
For more tinnitus resources, please visit our Tinnitus Resources playlist on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKFvKGU_m7-NbSa_tTDqv852Vxh3O_vm-
If you are struggling with tinnitus - ringing in the ears, these resources are designed to help you find relief.
In this video, Dr. Julie Prutsman walks you through Guided Imagery for Tinnitus.
f you are struggling with tinnitus - ringing in the ears, these resources are designed to help you find relief.
Dr. Julie Prutsman demonstrates Progressive Muscle Relaxation for tinnitus.
These videos guide you on how to clean hearing aids by different manufacturers.
These videos also show how to Bluetooth pair hearing aids to an Apple iPhone.
There is also a video on Lyric self-insertion.