I have been noticing ears lately.

More specifically, I have been noticing what people put in them.

Walk through an airport, a grocery store, a college campus or a coffee shop and earbuds seem to be everywhere. Kids wear them. Teenagers wear them. Adults wear them. People exercise in them, shop in them, work in them and sometimes, rather annoyingly, continue wearing them while you are trying to talk to them.

But recently I started wondering whether our ubiquitous earbuds might have an unexpected upside.

Could earbuds finally make hearing aids cool - or at least unremarkable?

When I got glasses in third grade, I was mortified and took them off every chance I got. Today, glasses are so normalized that they're not simply accepted—they're a fashion accessory.

Could hearing aids be on the same journey?

For generations, hearing aids carried a stigma. People worried that wearing them made them look old or somehow diminished. Manufacturers responded by making hearing aids smaller and smaller, almost as though the goal was to pretend they weren't there.

Meanwhile, younger generations have spent decades voluntarily putting devices in their ears—and nobody gives them a second glance.

Perhaps today's earbud-wearing 40-year-old will become tomorrow's 75-year-old hearing-aid wearer without thinking twice about it.

That would be a very good thing.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about one in three adults between ages 65 and 74 has hearing loss. Among those over 75, nearly half have difficulty hearing. Yet only about one in four people who could benefit from hearing aids has ever used them.

Some of that resistance has historically been stigma—the perception that hearing aids announce to the world, "I'm old."

But avoiding hearing loss doesn't make it disappear. Instead, it can make conversations frustrating and contribute to withdrawal, loneliness and social isolation. Research has also found an association between hearing loss and cognitive decline. In one major study, treating hearing loss in older adults at increased risk for dementia slowed cognitive decline by nearly 50 percent over three years.

In other words, hearing well isn't simply about hearing. It's about staying connected to the people and world around us.

Which brings me to another observation about ears—and phones.

Increasingly, I see older adults talking on their cellphones in public with the speaker turned on.

I've encountered speakerphone conversations in grocery aisles, restaurants, bars and waiting rooms. Sometimes I learn considerably more about a stranger's family, doctor's appointment or dinner plans than I ever wanted to know.

I suspect at least some people use speakerphone because holding the phone to their ear makes it difficult to hear. Turning up the volume and putting it on speaker solves the problem - for them.

Unfortunately, it creates a new problem for everyone within earshot.

Maybe the humble earbud can help here, too.

Today's wireless earbuds are relatively easy to use, and some even offer features that enhance voices and help people hear conversations more clearly. Perhaps we should spend more time helping older adults become comfortable using them with their phones.

Of course, earbuds aren't a substitute for having your hearing evaluated if you're struggling to hear. And when walking or driving, we need to remain aware of the sounds around us.

But perhaps we should reconsider what all those little devices sticking out of everyone's ears represent.

They may be doing something previous generations never managed to accomplish: normalizing the idea that sometimes our ears can use a little technological assistance.

Maybe someday hearing aids will be viewed the way we now view glasses—not as something that announces our age or limitations, but simply as something that helps us experience the world more fully.

If earbuds are helping us get there, I am all for them.