Ear infections are a common childhood experience, but a new study suggests parents should take them seriously to preserve their children’s language development . This is because every ear infection can potentially affect hearing by building up fluid behind the eardrum.
New research by scientists at the University of Florida reveals that when ear infections become chronic, this temporary and repeated hearing loss can lead to deficits in auditory processing and language development in children years later.
"Ear infections are so common that we tend to dismiss them as having no long-term effects. We should take all ear infections seriously," said Susan Nittrouer, lead researcher and professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at UF in the College of Public Health and Health Professions.
"Parents should be aware that their child may have some fluid in the middle ear without it being painful and work with their doctor to monitor it closely."
Nittrouer and Joanna Lowenstein, a researcher at the UF Institute for Clinical and Translational Health Sciences, studied the auditory processing and language development of 117 children ages 5 to 10 with and without a history of chronic ear infections in early childhood.
On average, children with several ear infections before age three had smaller vocabularies and had a harder time finding words with similar sounds than children with few or no ear infections. They also had difficulty detecting changes in sounds, a sign of problems in their brain’s auditory processing centers.
One takeaway, Nittrouer says, is for parents, doctors and speech therapists to continue monitoring children long after the last preschool earache goes away. Some language deficits may only become apparent in later grades.
"As children go to school, the language they have to use becomes more complex," Nittrouer said.
Nittrouer and Lowenstein used three tests to assess language development and auditory processing. In one test, children had to detect which of three cute cartoon characters sounded different from the other two. This involved manipulating patterns of volume or amplitude change over time.
"The better you can recognize this change in amplitude over time, the better you can recognize the structure of speech," Nittrouer said.
The second task asked children to name the pictures presented to them, a measure of their vocabulary size. Finally, children were asked to match words according to whether they began or ended with the same speech sound, a task essential not only for speech development but also for reading acquisition.
According to Nittrouer, early treatment of ear infections can help prevent fluid buildup that impairs language development. If ear infections are common and fluid builds up, tubes temporarily placed in the eardrum can help drain the fluid and restore hearing, which should lead to a lower risk of delayed development of the central auditory pathways and less problems acquiring language.
The researchers published their findings in November in the International Journal of Pediatric Otolaryngology . They plan to continue this research by including children at risk for delays in auditory development for other reasons, including premature birth.
Conclusion When experimental factors are strictly controlled, evidence emerges showing the effects of early-life otitis media on auditory and language development. The mechanism of the effects on language acquisition appears to involve both a delay in auditory development and diminished access to environmental language. |
Reference : Susan Nittrouer, Joanna H. Lowenstein. Early otitis media puts children at risk for later auditory and language deficits. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology , 2024; 176: 111801 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2023.111801
