The ear is a relatively low maintenance organ. While you have to brush and floss your teeth; clean, moisturize, and protect your skin; and nourish your heart and brain with quality sleep, good food, and regular exercise; the only requirement for your ears is that you avoid loud noise.

“Our ability to hear declines with age,” explains Frank Lin, MD, PhD, associate professor in the division of otology, neurology, and skull base surgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Many parts of the inner ear can’t regenerate, so the most important risk factor for hearing loss is lifetime exposure to noise.”

Advances in occupational health and changes in warfare that enable soldiers to avoid deafening gunfire have helped lower our collective decibel level over the last several decades. “The biggest factor,” says Dr. Lin, “is the reduction in industrial noise. For the past 30 years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued strict regulations regarding occupational hearing protection. If the noise is over a certain decibel, for example, employers have to offer earplugs or headphones, and they must conduct periodic hearing screenings.”

Employers and the public sector are doing what they can to reduce decibel levels. Here are five ways you can lower your risk for age-related hearing loss.

1. Get Tested.
   If you think your hearing may be impaired, ask your doctor for a referral to an audiologist. “If you get a referral from your physician, testing is covered by Medicare,” says Dr. Lin. You can also test your hearing using smartphone apps such as the Mimi Hearing Test, which is available on the Apple App Store.
   
2. Avoid Loud Noise.
   The degree of hearing damage from noise exposure is based on two variables: intensity and duration. A really loud gunshot can result in significant damage, as can working in a ship engine room for hours at a time. “If you work in any occupation where you have to raise your voice to be heard, you should be wearing ear protection,” Dr. Lin says. Other common sense advice includes wearing earplugs if you’re sitting near the front at a loud concert, not blasting the car radio (or your iPod when wearing earbuds), and keeping noise (background and other noise) at a reasonable level.
   
3. Stay engaged.
   Studies consistently link social isolation with worsening cognition. “People who are hearing impaired are more likely to be socially isolated, and people who are socially isolated are at greater risk of cognitive impairment,” says Justin S. Golub, MD, MS, assistant professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.
4. Wear appropriate hearing equipment.
   If your hearing is impaired, wear a hearing aid or ask your doctor about other hearing amplification devices, say our experts.
   
5. Check your hearing aid.
   Just like you have to tune a piano or other instrument regularly, you have to make sure your hearing aid or sound amplification device is tuned properly to ensure the best sound delivery. While most hearing aids today are digital (and don’t need to be manually programmed), you should still see an audiologist periodically to ensure they’re tuned correctly and reprogrammed accordingly.