Even Short-Term Ear Infections Can Impact Language Development, New Study Finds

Ear infections may be common in young children, but they can lead to long-term developmental delays, a new study warns.

Researchers found chronic ear infections can cause problems with language development years later.

The lead researcher says, “Ear infections are so common that we tend to dismiss them as having no long-term effect. We should take all ear infections seriously.”

The study included 117 kids 5-10 years of age with and without a history of repeat ear infections.

They underwent a series of tests to assess their hearing and language abilities and the results showed children with several ear infections before the age of three had smaller vocabularies and a harder time sounding out words.

They also had difficulty detecting changes in sounds… which is a sign the brain is having problems with auditory processing.

The authors say kids with chronic ear infections should be monitored throughout their academic career since language deficits may not reveal themselves until later grades.