Our oldest daughter had numerous infections and mumbled badly. After tubes at age 4, no more infections plus her speech cleared up immediately.
I had frequent middle ear infections up until the age of 30. No fun!
Unfortunately, I heard of a couple of babies that did not survive what was supposed to be routine surgery. Even though it is a common procedure, it is also dangerous as the baby has to be put under anesthesia, unless they do it differently now.