Hearing Health and Healthy Aging
Healthy aging is often associated with eating well, staying physically active, getting enough sleep, and keeping up with routine medical care. Hearing health deserves a place on that list, too.
Our ability to hear helps us communicate, stay connected with other people, respond to our surroundings, and participate in everyday activities. Hearing can change gradually with age, which means those changes may not always be immediately noticeable.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), age-related hearing loss which is also called presbycusis is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults. About one in three people in the United States between ages 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of adults over age 75 have difficulty hearing.[1]
Taking a whole-health approach to aging means paying attention to hearing alongside other aspects of wellness.
1. Make Hearing Health Part of Routine Health Care
Hearing changes can develop gradually. You may notice that conversations in restaurants are harder to follow, television volume is creeping upward, or certain voices seem less clear than they used to.
Because the changes can be subtle, hearing health is easy to overlook.
The National Institute on Aging recommends seeking professional advice when hearing difficulties are noticed. A physician can evaluate potential causes and, when appropriate, refer someone to an audiologist or an ear, nose, and throat specialist.[2]
This is particularly important because not every change in hearing is simply a normal part of getting older. Hearing difficulties may have different causes, and a qualified healthcare professional can help determine what is happening.
Healthy-aging habit: Treat changes in hearing the same way you would changes in vision, mobility, or other aspects of your health: discuss them with a healthcare professional rather than ignoring them.
2. Stay Physically Active
Regular physical activity is well established as an important component of healthy aging. Research also shows an interesting relationship between hearing and physical activity.
A 2023 analysis of more than 11,000 adults age 50 and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing followed participants for as long as 20 years. The researchers found that physical activity declined more rapidly over time among people reporting hearing loss than among those without hearing loss.[3]
Importantly, this does not mean exercise has been proven to prevent or treat hearing loss. In fact, baseline physical activity in this study was not associated with subsequently developing hearing loss.[3]
Another U.S. study using objective activity measurements found that older adults with hearing loss had fewer active minutes and more fragmented physical activity than adults without hearing loss.[4]
Together, these findings highlight an important healthy-aging principle: hearing health and maintaining an active lifestyle can be considered complementary parts of overall wellness, even though research has not established that exercise itself prevents age-related hearing loss.
Walking, swimming, cycling, strength training, or other appropriate activities can all contribute to an active lifestyle. The type and amount of exercise appropriate for an individual should take personal health and a healthcare professional’s recommendations into account.
3. Think About Overall Nutrition, Not a Single “Hearing Food”
Nutrition supports health throughout the body, and researchers have also investigated the relationship between dietary patterns and hearing.
A scientific review examining nutrition and age-related hearing loss found associations between nutritional status, dietary patterns, and hearing health. However, the authors emphasized that additional research is necessary to better understand these relationships.[5]
Research examining overall diet quality has reached similarly interesting—but not definitive—findings. In an analysis of U.S. adults, better overall diet quality was associated with better hearing thresholds at higher frequencies after researchers accounted for factors including age, diabetes, education, and noise exposure.[6]
More recent longitudinal research from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging has also investigated associations between dietary patterns and hearing status in middle-aged and older adults.[7]
These studies are important, but they should not be interpreted to mean that a particular food, nutrient, or dietary supplement can prevent, treat, or reverse age-related hearing loss.
Instead, the research supports a broader healthy-aging approach: focus on a balanced dietary pattern that provides a variety of nutrients and supports overall health.
Healthy-aging habit: Build meals around a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, appropriate protein sources, and other nutrient-dense foods consistent with your individual health needs.
4. Don’t Forget About Sleep
Sleep is another important component of overall health, although the relationship between sleep and hearing is still being studied.
A large prospective UK Biobank study involving more than 230,000 adults found that sleep duration itself was not associated with hearing-loss risk after adjustment for other factors. However, a greater number of reported sleep problems was associated with a higher risk of subsequently reported hearing loss.[8]
Other research has produced varying findings regarding sleep duration and hearing thresholds.[9]
That distinction matters.
Current evidence does not establish that improving sleep will prevent hearing loss. Instead, sleep and hearing should be viewed as separate but potentially interconnected aspects of overall wellness that researchers continue to investigate.
Healthy-aging habit: Prioritize consistent, restorative sleep as part of your overall health routine—not as a treatment for hearing problems.
5. Protect Your Ears From Excessive Noise
Aging isn’t the only factor that can affect hearing.
NIDCD notes that long-term exposure to noise can contribute to age-related hearing loss. Loud sounds can damage sensory hair cells inside the inner ear, and in humans these cells do not grow back.[1]
That makes hearing protection especially important throughout life.
When you’re around potentially damaging noise, such as loud machinery, power equipment, sporting events, concerts, or other high-volume environments reducing exposure and using appropriate hearing protection can help limit unnecessary noise exposure.
This is one area where small everyday choices can add up over many years.
Hearing Also Supports Everyday Connection
Hearing is more than the ability to detect sound. It plays an important role in communication and social interaction.
The National Institute on Aging notes that hearing loss can make conversations with friends and family more difficult. It can also interfere with understanding medical advice and hearing important environmental sounds such as alarms, phones, and doorbells.[2]
Researchers are also studying connections among hearing, cognitive health, physical function, and healthy aging.
The ACHIEVE randomized clinical trial, for example, examined whether a comprehensive hearing intervention could influence cognitive change in older adults with hearing loss. In the overall study population, the hearing intervention did not significantly reduce three-year cognitive decline compared with the health-education control. However, prespecified analyses found differing results between study populations, highlighting both the potential importance of hearing care and the need for careful interpretation of the evidence.[10]
That is an important reminder that hearing research is evolving, and associations between hearing and other aspects of aging should not automatically be interpreted as proof that one causes the other.
A Whole-Health Approach to Aging
There is no single habit that guarantees healthy hearing as we age.
Genetics, lifetime noise exposure, health conditions, medications, and other factors may all influence hearing.[1] Some factors can be modified, while others cannot.
A practical approach is to think about hearing as one part of a larger healthy-aging routine:
- Eat a balanced, nutrient-rich diet.
- Stay physically active according to your abilities and medical guidance.
- Prioritize healthy sleep habits.
- Protect your ears from excessive noise.
- Pay attention to changes in hearing.
- Include hearing concerns in conversations with your healthcare provider.
- Seek a professional hearing evaluation when appropriate.
Healthy aging isn’t only about how well we move, eat, or sleep. How well we hear and communicate can matter, too.
Taking care of hearing health means protecting the hearing you have, recognizing changes when they occur, and seeking appropriate professional care when needed.
References
1. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Age-Related Hearing Loss (Presbycusis). National Institutes of Health.
NIDCD — Age-Related Hearing Loss
2. National Institute on Aging (NIA). Hearing Loss: A Common Problem for Older Adults. National Institutes of Health.
NIA — Hearing Loss and Older Adults
3. Goodwin MV, Hogervorst E, Hardy R, Stephan BCM, Maidment DW. How are hearing loss and physical activity related? Analysis from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Preventive Medicine. 2023;173:107609. PMID: 37423474.
PubMed — Goodwin et al., 2023
4. Hearing Loss and Physical Activity Among Older Adults in the United States. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. PMID: 37527509.
PubMed — Hearing Loss and Physical Activity Among Older Adults
5. Rodrigo L, Campos-Asensio C, Rodríguez M, Crespo I, Olmedillas H. Role of nutrition in the development and prevention of age-related hearing loss: A scoping review. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association. PMID: 32473863.
PubMed — Nutrition and Age-Related Hearing Loss
6. Spankovich C, Le Prell CG. Healthy diets, healthy hearing: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2002. International Journal of Audiology. 2013. PMID: 23594420.
PubMed — Healthy Diets, Healthy Hearing
7. Jin Y, et al. Associations between dietary indices and hearing status among middle-older aged adults—results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2024;119(5):1338–1345. PMID: 38447686.
PubMed — Dietary Indices and Hearing Status
8. Yévenes-Briones H, et al. Duration and Quality of Sleep and Risk of Self-reported Hearing Loss: The UK Biobank Study. Ear and Hearing. 2023. PMID: 36973871.
PubMed — Sleep and Risk of Hearing Loss
9. Long L, Tang Y. Association between sleep duration and hearing threshold shifts of adults in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2015–2016. BMC Public Health. 2023. PMID: 37990210.
PubMed — Sleep Duration and Hearing Thresholds
10. Lin FR, Pike JR, Albert MS, et al.; ACHIEVE Collaborative Research Group. Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2023;402(10404):786–797. PMID: 37478886.
PubMed — ACHIEVE Randomized Clinical Trial
This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Talk with a qualified healthcare professional about changes in hearing or questions about your individual health.