Age-Related Hearing Loss: The Blind Spot Affecting Your Balance, Brain & Energy (Ep. 209)

In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Anthony Balduzzi continues the "Blind Spots" series by unpacking one of the most overlooked aspects of healthy aging:

... Your hearing.

If you've ever come home from a dinner out feeling completely wiped out — not because the food or company was bad, but because you spent the whole night straining to catch every word — this episode is for you.

Dr. A explains why hearing loss isn't just about things getting quieter. It's cognitively expensive, pulling resources away from your memory, balance, and coordination.

He breaks down what's actually happening inside your ear, why hearing loss is linked to falls and even dementia risk, and gives you a simple five-question self-test you can run tonight.

Then he closes with real, practical nutrition and lifestyle strategies — think omega-3s, folate-rich foods, and protecting your ears from everyday noise — so you can preserve your hearing (and your independence) for decades to come.

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Fit Mother Project Key Takeaways:Hearing loss is the default trajectory of the human body — not a condition only "unlucky" people get. By age 65–74, 1 in 3 adults has it; by 75+, it's nearly half.Listening is cognitively expensive. When sound is degraded, your brain has to work harder to reconstruct words, pulling resources away from memory, attention, and balance.A 25-decibel hearing loss (mild impairment) was associated with nearly 3x higher odds of falling in the past year — and every additional 10-decibel loss raised that risk further.Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) happens when tiny hair cells in your inner ear (the cochlea) wear down — and unlike birds and fish, humans cannot regenerate them.High frequencies go first, which is why consonants (s, f, th, k) blur before vowels do — this is the "I can hear you, I just can't understand you" phenomenon.The decibel scale is logarithmic. A concert or earbuds at full volume (100–110 dB) is only safe for about 15 minutes — that's the same ear damage as 8 h