Even though our ears get bigger as we age, our hearing tends to fade. This ironic problem is common and gets progressively worse the older we get. An estimated 25 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have disabling hearing loss. And losing hearing can mean having a hard time understanding what people are saying, which can lead to social isolation and depression.

Although the tendency to lose hearing in old age gets passed on from generation to generation, little is known abo