New Year, New Hearing, New You

8 Tips for Hearing Better in 2025

Your world is filled with sounds you don’t want to miss — your grandchild’s piano recital, your favorite sci-fi marathon, or a phone conversation with an old friend. As the new year nears, refresh your connections to the people and moments that matter with these eight simple tips for better hearing.

1. Tap Into Technology

Today’s technology turns any alerting sound into a visual or vibratory cue. Now doorbells, smoke alarms, and more can alert you with flashing lights or vibrations. Smartphones can stream audio directly to your hearing aids, caption videos, or flash visual alerts for incoming calls. Another innovation: We now have hearing aid technology that can translate other languages.

2. Get in the Loop

Did you know your favorite public places — museums, theaters, places of worship, and more — might have something called a hearing loop installed? When you activate the T-coil setting on your hearing aids, looping technology lets you receive enhanced audio wirelessly. Look for the hearing-loop logo at participating sites or inquire with someone at the venue about their looping capabilities.

3. Protect Your Hearing

Some 466 million people worldwide, including 34 million children, have hearing loss, and excess noise is one of the most preventable causes. Whether you’re enjoying New Year fireworks, hunting with firearms, riding snowmobiles, or otherwise encountering loud sounds, look out for your hearing health by limiting your exposure and wearing quality hearing protection.

And when seeking out hearing protection, opt for something that matches your activity. Plenty of activities only require over-the-counter earplugs, but others require that little something extra.

Hunters’ earplugs protect against the loud blasts generated by guns but still allow you to hear what’s going on around you. Musicians’ earplugs perform a similar function, letting you hear what you’re playing but protecting your ears from high decibels.

4. Get Plenty of Exercise

It’s no secret that obesity can put you at risk for strokes, heart disease, diabetes, and other serious health problems. But did you know it’s linked to hearing loss, too? Resolving to get even healthier and more fit in 2025 will help reduce the risk of excess weight, a problem that can tax your hearing and affect total health.

Plus, one study showed that regular exercise delays age-related hearing loss by providing enough blood flow and oxygen to keep your auditory system healthier, longer.

5. Schedule a Hearing Check

You most likely get your teeth and vision checked once a year — what about your hearing? Staying on top of your hearing health helps catch any potential changes or problems early, which is important for overall wellness. In fact, more and more studies show that hearing loss affects your overall wellness in a variety of ways.

Take, for example, brain health: Untreated hearing loss has long been linked to cognitive decline and dementia, but hearing care was recently shown to slow down cognitive decline by 48% in older adults already at increased risk for the condition.

As you can see, catching hearing loss as soon as possible benefits more than just your ears!

6. Eat Nutrient-Rich Foods

Did you know that simply making healthier food choices can support your hearing health? Two nutrients are known to be heavy hitters in the fight against hearing loss — folate and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).

Folate, also known as vitamin B-9, is important for healthy cell growth and functioning. It’s been shown that folate deficiency affects key amino acids in your inner ear, resulting in hearing loss — so getting enough is crucial.

But finding folate is simple: Include more dark green leafy vegetables in your diet. If that’s a no-go, reach for legumes, oranges, bananas, broccoli, or asparagus.

Omega-3 PUFAs protect cell health in your inner ear. They also minimize the effect of loud noises, chemicals, or infections on your inner ear. Omega-3 PUFAs have also been shown to prevent or delay age-related hearing loss.

Obviously, fish is a great source of omega-3s — but if seafood isn’t your thing, don’t fret. Flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans are also good sources.

7. Ditch the Cotton Swabs

Very few people use cotton swabs for anything but cleaning their ears, so it would make sense if you assumed that’s what they’re designed for.

That’s not the case — swabs should never be inserted into your ear.

Sure, you remove the swab from your ear and there’s plenty of earwax, but there is usually plenty more not getting removed. In fact, you’re probably pushing that extra earwax deeper into your ear canal. And that can damage your eardrum, leading to hearing loss.

Ears naturally clean themselves — seriously — so if you suspect you have wax buildup, seek help from an audiologist, and always follow their instructions to the letter.

We’re here to help you and your loved ones hear your best! Contact us today for more tips on hearing better in the new year.