At the beginning of May, I posted a story featuring an interview with audiologist Dr. Marc Fagelson. Professor of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at East Tennessee State University, he went into depth with me about tinnitus and how doctors can help patients cope with with her rather than heal it. Dr. Fagelson, who serves on the scientific advisory board at American Tinnitus Associationhe told me that tinnitus was more annoying than adversary to general health, saying it was “more or less harmless” and wouldn’t hurt anyone. A lot of coping mechanisms and other therapies, he said, are psychological in nature because tinnitus excels at “mutually reinforcing mental health issues, emotional issues, (and) other types of functional issues.”

In the spirit of helping people live better with tinnitus, a few months ago I sat down with Chris Ellis to talk about his app called AudioCardio. On its website, the software, available on iOS and Android, is billed as “designed to strengthen hearing and relieve tinnitus.” What’s more, it describes the app as “evidence-based” and offering “inaudible sound therapies designed to maintain and strengthen your hearing while providing tinnitus relief by stimulating cells within the ear.”

As AudioCardio says, the app is like physical therapy for the ears.

Ellis, the co-founder and CEO of AudioCardio, explained that the impetus for building the app lies in the time he acted as a caregiver for his grandfather. His grandfather suffered from cognitive decline and eventually died from complications of dementia. During his years as a caregiver, Ellis dived deep into researching ways to help his senior cope with dementia and discover what causes it and how to deal with it. Ellis came across several studies that found a correlation between dementia and untreated hearing loss, which resonated with him because his grandfather worked in the Air Force as a hydraulic engineer and as such “(worked) around very loud machines with big cars, with very loud sounds.” Such prolonged exposure caused hearing loss and tinnitus, but Ellis said his grandfather “refused” to wear hearing aids or seek treatment. Ellis said he and his family equated their grandfather’s eventual cognitive decline with his inability to hear things because it caused “isolation, frustration and depression.” Ellis’s networks led him to connect with a scientist working on hearing loss; their collaboration is what gave birth to AudioCardio as it is today.

“(We) sought to provide an easily accessible and affordable solution for people around the world,” Ellis said.

On its website, AudioCardio explains that the software works through a “clinically proven” methodology called threshold sound conditioningor TSC. The method, tested by the Stanford University School of Medicine, is described as a “non-invasive acoustic technology that is designed to maintain and restore natural hearing ability and reduce the symptoms of tinnitus”. Ellis said the AudioCardio “plays an inaudible, customized sound repeatedly and continuously to stimulate a specific group of cells inside the ear.” The app works similarly to Apple’s hearing aid test for AirPods Pro, in that users are asked to sit in a quiet room with headphones to take the necessary hearing assessment. The assessment, Ellis told me, “calibrates that personalized, inaudible sound therapy.” Essentially, AudioCardio provides background noise; users don’t need to interact much with the app. The sounds are inaudible to the person, though Ellis said they might be perceptible to someone with better hearing. Over time, more of these seemingly inaudible sounds will become visible at lower volumes — hence the therapy part — at which point users should recalibrate the app for their new hearing levels. After enough therapy, lowering the “threshold of sound”, they would acquire the ability to hear sounds at lower volumes.

Moving on, Ellis told me he thinks hearing health awareness has grown “tremendously” recently, thanks in large part to the work of larger companies like Apple. tinnitus study made with the University of Michigan launched earlier this year. From his data, Ellis said that AudioCardio has gained popularity among young people, telling me that many young people experience hearing loss as a result of spending a lot of time wearing headphones and being in noisy environments such as concerts, crowded restaurants and even rush hour traffic. in New York City. For himself, Ellis noted that he tries to protect his long-term hearing health by carrying a set of earplugs with him wherever he goes. Additionally, he tries to keep the volume of devices like his phone on the low end. And of course, Ellis eats his own dog food using AudioCardio daily. “Because it’s passive and inaudible, when I’m working out in the morning, I can go to the AudioCardio, press play (and) listen to sound therapy and music at the same time,” Ellis said of using the AudioCardio himself. “I will do this routine and incorporate it into my daily activities.”

AudioCardio, Ellis told me, is aimed at “people with sensorineural hearing loss, meaning hearing loss caused by exposure to noise and trauma, traumatic brain injury, as well as other neurocognitive problems.” He added that hearing loss often occurs gradually due to aging, so AudioCardio is able to positively affect “the majority of hearing loss” that people experience.

When asked about the feedback, Ellis said it was “incredibly rewarding” for the team, especially with AudioCardio being a startup. Obviously, every company has good days and bad days, but Ellis pointed out that he received countless emails from customers who, before finding AudioCardio, were discouraged about finding a solution for their hearing health. The app has been “life-changing” in this way, with Ellis saying people are “really excited” and are always asking the team to add more frequencies and other functionality to AudioCardio.

“They’re definitely engaged,” Ellis said of AudioCardio users. “I’m definitely finding benefits in using our app – we know that because of the questions and support we get from our community.”

As for the future, Ellis has returned to AudioCardio’s core mission. He said the company will continue to move forward in “(providing) an easily accessible and affordable solution for people around the world.” He acknowledged that while the United States is relatively wealthy in terms of access to specialists and the like, there are people living in rural areas of the country who cannot easily access healthcare. So AudioCardio’s presence could be accessibility in another way, as Ellis said the app “(gives them) access to something they can download anywhere, anytime is the first priority.” More broadly, Ellis sees AudioCardio as a front-runner in the digital health and digital therapy fields, telling me he sees other applications for its core technologies — even potentially for other types of devices that could stimulate “(help) individuals in a meaningful way. mode.”

“We are continuing to investigate. We look forward to the future,” said Ellis.