Do Frequent Ear Infections Impact Language Development?

Language development is an amazing, but complicated process. Toddler’s quickly transition from using cries and vocalizations to words to communicate. How cool? However, sometimes toddlers face obstacles. One obstacle that often goes unnoticed is ear infections. Frequent ear infections can impact a little one’s ability to communicate.

Hearing is crucial to language acquisition. Hearing allows children to listen to sounds, imitate words, and build their vocabulary. But ear infections can interrupt this process.

• Hearing impairment: Ear infections often cause a buildup of fluid in the ear and recurrent ear infections can actually cause a temporary hearing loss. This makes it harder for our little ones to hear and process sounds correctly, making it difficult for them to notice language cues and develop sounds and speech patterns correctly.

• Pain and Discomfort: If you’ve ever had an ear infection you know that they are painful! The pain and discomfort that come along with ear infections make toddlers cranky, but this pain and discomfort may also make children reluctant to engage in activities that involve listening and speaking!

• Reduced Auditory Input: Frequent ear infections may also lead to reduced auditory input and may limit exposure to spoken language and result in delays in reaching speech and language milestones.

What are the signs of a language delay due to frequent ear infections?

• Less words
• Many speech errors
• Difficulty understanding simple instructions like “come here”

As a parent what can you do? If you are a parent of a little one who has frequent ear infections, it is important to speak to your pediatrician so your child gets the necessary medical care that they need. But recognizing the signs of a speech and language delay and creating a language rich environment at an early age is so important and actually helps little ones overcome these obstacles in their language development journey.