Frequent ear infections in
childhood may lead to delayed language development, suggests new research from
the University of Florida. The study explored the potential impact of common
childhood infections on speech.
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| Early ear infections could lead to a later delay in speech, according to a study from the University of Florida |
Published in the International
Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology in November 2023, the research
revealed that early ear infections (otitis media) could compromise hearing due
to fluid accumulation behind the eardrum.
The study examined the auditory processing and language development of 117 children aged 5 to 10, including those with and without a history of chronic ear infections. Children who had multiple ear infections before the age of 3 exhibited a smaller vocabulary and struggled with distinguishing similar-sounding words.
Additionally, these children
struggled to detect changes in sound, suggesting a potential issue in the
brain's auditory processing center.
Susan Nittrouer, PhD, a UF
professor and co-author of the study, commented on the findings, stating,
"For most children, language
development appears to unfold so effortlessly that it is easy for us to lose
sight of what a remarkable feat this is. And ear infections are so common among
infants and toddlers that it is easy to view them as completely benign."
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| It's important for guardians to pay attention to their children's ear infection history, said the study's lead researcher (not pictured) |
She added that the study revealed
"two somewhat novel findings."
The first key finding is the link between ear infections and poorer abilities in recognizing patterns in the acoustic signals present in speech.
"The central auditory pathways develop after birth," explained
Susan Nittrouer. "If enough auditory
input is not available to the child – which happens with temporary periods of
hearing loss due to ear infections – that development of auditory pathways is
delayed, and these listening abilities do not develop properly."
The second significant discovery
suggests that this diminished ability to recognize acoustic patterns hampers
children's capacity to identify specific speech sounds, including elements like
syllables.
"As they get older, the language they encounter, especially in school,
becomes more complex and more dependent on that level of language structure,"
Nittrouer emphasized.
"This is a critical finding," she added. "During early periods of language acquisition, children do not have or need keen sensitivity to phonological structure – individual speech sounds. But as they get older, the language they encounter, especially in school, becomes more complex and more dependent on that level of language structure and the child’s ability to accurately and quickly recognize the individual speech sounds in words."
The implications are that children
experiencing delays and challenges in language development may face more
significant difficulties as they grow older, according to Nittrouer.
"Contrary to the idea that the child will ‘get over’ or ‘outgrow’ the
effects of early [ear infections], these effects may actually intensify,"
she emphasized.
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| One of the study's "critical findings" was that ear infections can cause poor identification of speech sounds, the lead researcher said |
"We must take every ear infection seriously."
Nittrouer urged parents and
caregivers to be vigilant in monitoring children for "language-learning, academic, and attentional difficulties," including
reading disabilities, as they age.
She highlighted that other early health histories can also contribute to speech delays, underscoring the need to monitor children for language development "well past the early school years."
Moreover, Nittrouer pointed out
that "the problems arising from such
conditions may only present themselves as the language demands of school
increase."
Abhita Reddy, M.D., a pediatric
otolaryngologist at Cedars Sinai Guerin Children's, expressed her view that the
research is "under-powered."
"The experiment had very few subjects studied and yet drew a broad
conclusion from them," stated Dr. Reddy. "When a study has such few subjects in their experiment, often the
conclusions can be easily skewed by confounding variables."
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| Ear infections can delay the development of auditory pathways in early childhood, the study found |
She also raised concerns about the
chosen population of patients studied, noting that the study focused on
children who reportedly did not have many ear infections as defined by parents.
"[This] can introduce a lot of concern regarding the type of otitis media the child had, as there are two types – acute otitis media and chronic otitis media with effusion – that can have very different effects on patients' language development," she added.
Abhita Reddy, M.D., also expressed
concern about the definition of patients who had experienced ear infections in
the study, particularly the lack of information about whether the patients had
ear tubes during the time of the experiment, how many sets they had, and the
indications for their ear tubes.
In her opinion, Dr. Reddy advised
against drawing conclusions from this study, and she does not believe the
research will impact the future of ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) care.
"We know that recurrent acute otitis media in certain patients can be
caused by eustachian tube dysfunction (a tube in our bodies that connects the
middle ear space to the back of the nose) … [which], if not treated early, can
lead to lifelong issues with hearing in the form of conductive hearing loss
(ability for sound to transmit to the hearing nerve)," she added.
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