The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson,

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

What's that? Ear Health, the dietary lifestyle choices that preserve it.

Sure, ears aren't exactly the sexiest body part, but it's fair to say that life with substandard

ear health would be notably less enjoyable.

And as it happens, millions of Americans are unfortunately able to speak to that.

Research indicates that an estimated one in five folks

have some form of hearing loss. This rate increases to one in three for age 65 and over,

but some estimates put hearing loss great enough to impair communication even higher for the upper

decades at around 40%. Perhaps even more alarming, close to 15% of American kids have some form of hearing loss.

In teenagers, prevalence has jumped from 15% in 1994 to almost 20% in 2006.

Unfortunately, that hearing difficulty will often go undiagnosed.

Hearing loss is in fact the third most common health condition in the country, right on the

heels of arthritis and heart disease.

And it's getting worse.

Between 2000 and 2015, the number of Americans with hearing loss has doubled, mirroring

a worldwide increase of 44%

over that same period. But it's not all about hearing. What about ear health? Our ears perform

plenty more functions than just auditory reception. Let's not forget that the ears are instrumental

and influencing our emotions and state of mind, maintaining our sense

of balance, and regulating pressure. From what meager stats are available on ear health, we know that

close to 16,000 older Americans were killed in falls in 2005. We also know that nearly half of

...