When my sons were preschoolers in the early 70’s, ear tubes were all the rage for children with recurring ear infections. Parents were bombarded by warnings that if fluid in the middle ear lingered long after treatment of an ear infection it could impair hearing and cause lasting developmental abnormalities, including problems with speech and language, learning and behavior. Two decades later, ear tubes were still very much in fashion. A newsletter published in November 1993 for parents of young children proclaimed that hearing loss resulting from otitis media with effusion, or O.M.E., as the problem is known medically, “can...
