Gary BreckaHuman Biologist & Longevity Innovator

1 in 6 Teenagers Already Has Hearing Loss

4 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this conversational video, Gary Brecka and an unnamed speaker discuss a growing, largely unnoticed public health issue: about one in six teenagers already experience hearing loss. They attribute the rise to common behaviors such as using loud headphones and exposure to high‑volume music, emphasizing that once the auditory cells are damaged, the loss is permanent. The speakers describe the condition as a "quiet pandemic"—invisible and under‑reported—leading to feelings of hopelessness and social isolation as hearing connects individuals to family, work, and the broader environment. They stress that hearing is essential for brain fitness, likening it to an exercise for the mind. The dialogue moves toward practical steps, suggesting that regular hearing assessments can detect early frequency degradation and that mitigation strategies are needed, though they note a stigma surrounding treatment options, hinted at with the phrase "Ovameta kiwin." The overall tone is urgent and empathetic, aiming to raise awareness and prompt early action.

You have 1 in 6 teenagers right now have hearing loss. It's a quiet pandemic because they're blowing out their ears, whether it's headphones and, you know, just loud music and a lot of reasons.
Once you damage them, they don't come back.
It's a health issue, but it's not one that's alarming people because it's quiet and it's invisible.
When you have this kind of hearing loss and you don't get an explanation for it, it makes people feel hopeless.
Hearing connects you with people. It connects you with your environment, your day job, your kids, and it's the fitness for the brain. It makes sense to me from the standpoint of isolation.
I mean, as you lose your hearing, you become increasingly more isolated. From your family, from your environment.
Hearing is essential. If you want everything to be balanced and work, you got to feed that brain and exercise the brain, and that's how you do it.
Let's say that you go in and you get a hearing assessment and you start to notice that certain frequencies are beginning to degrade. What are the things to mitigate to stop that slide?
They talk about the solutions to treat the hearing loss, and it's the two words that always gets everybody because of the stigma associated with it, and that's— Ovameta kiwin!