Living with unresolved hearing issues such as tinnitus, sensitivity to sound, or difficulty hearing
in background noise or groups? Our Peoria Sound Relief Tinnitus & Hearing Center is located on the
west side of Phoenix in the P83 Peoria, Arizona Neighborhood. As a family-owned and operated
audiology practice, we take pride in effectively treating those living with tinnitus, hyperacusis,
and hearing loss. We have the experience, technology, and compassion essential to successfully
reduce the impact of tinnitus on your life. No tinnitus treatment team is ranked higher or referred
with more confidence than Sound Relief Tinnitus & Hearing Center.
Bomina Kang is passionate about providing individualized patient-centered care and improving the quality of life of patients through implementing evidence-based intervention and treatment. Her specialty is adult diagnostics, hearing loss solutions, tinnitus management, and aural rehabilitation.
Bomina earned her Doctor of Audiology degree from Wichita State University and her Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Dietetics at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. She received her Certificate of Clinical Competence through the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and holds a license in audiology from the States of Arizona and Colorado.
Originally from Maryland, Kelly Hanscom earned her Bachelor’s of Hearing and Speech Sciences and Doctorate of Audiology (Au.D) from the University of Maryland.
Early in her Audiology career, she had a special interest in traumatic brain injuries, auditory processing disorders, and tinnitus. For the past six years, she has had the privilege of working with active military and Veterans. Her experience as a tinnitus specialist has taught her the importance of treating the whole person, and she looks forward to bringing the same individualized, high-level care to Sound Relief Tinnitus & Hearing Center. Dr. Kelly Hanscom sees patients at the Peoria and Scottsdale offices.
Dr. Hanscom lives in Scottsdale, AZ, with her border collie mix, Norman. She enjoys hiking, skiing, reading, and attending comedy shows in her free time.
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.