Does your toddler pull at his ears and cry? Does one of your older children complain of frequent earaches? If this is the scenario at your house, your child may be suffering from Otitis Media, otherwise known as middle ear infection.
In the United States, three out of four children have experienced at least one ear infection before they reach three years of age. Ear infections are the second leading childhood illness, after the common cold. In order for you to understand the development of ear infection, you must first understand the working of the ear.
Let’s Look at the Ear
Have you ever noticed how sound speakers vibrate? Have you ever touched your throat when you were speaking? Yes, you can feel the vocal cords vibrate. Invisible waves of energy that make up sound are what cause the vibration. As sound reaches the ear, all parts of the ear work together to make certain the ear transmits the proper information to our brain.
The ear is not just responsible for sound; it is also responsible for balance. It is made up of three parts: the inner ear, the middle ear and the outer ear. Sound moves through the air to the outer ear, which is also caused the pinna. This is the part of the ear that we see. From there, it moves on to the inner ear. This is where the ear drum is located, as well as three very small bones that are called ossicles. When sound hit the eardrum, it vibrates and the ossicles act as amplifiers to send the vibrations to the inner ear where they are translated to electric signals and are sent to the auditory nerve that is connected to the brain. Once the brain receives the nerve impulses, they’re translated to sound.
Ear Pressure
In order to function correctly, the middle ear has to be at the same pressure as the world outside the body. This is done by the eustachian tube, which connects the ear to the throat directly behind the nose.
When air reaches the middle ear, the eustachian tube works to equalize the air that reaches the middle ear to the air outside of the body. At times, you will hear your ears pop. When you hear that pop, the eustachian tube has just equalized the air in your middle ear. Sometimes both ears will pop at the same time, or only one ear may need to be equalized. Another job that the middle ear is responsible for is to drain mucus from the middle ear to the throat.