Same with my 35 year old son. Many, many ear infections every year. It got so, the only way i knew he had an infection was I would see him pulling on his ear. He got so used to the pain that it was only a minor inconvenience for him. Turned out, that he had a hole in the eardrum that no one ever saw because of the constant inflammation. He had a patch put in and he’s been good to go for about 18 years.
My daughter had an infection in her left ear so bad that pus was oozing out. She hadn’t even complained. The pus was what clued me in. lol We were just amazed at how she could tolerate that.