What are the symptoms?

Most common symptoms:

Hearing loss:  When children have glue ear their hearing levels can be similar to wearing ear plugs or putting fingers in their ears.  

Common symptoms of glue ear include:

• Often mishearing what is said, especially in noisy environments
• Needing the television volume turned up
• Saying ‘eh what’ or ‘pardon’ a lot
• Appearing to lip-read.

Physical ill health: children with glue ear can show symptoms of physical ill-health such as:

• Repeated ear infections (glue ear often follows acute ear infections, colds and flu)
• Snoring, blocked nose or poor sleep
• Noises in the ear or dizziness
• Clumsiness or off-balance.

Long term or persistent glue ear:

If glue ear has been present for a long while you may notice some of the following symptoms:

• Children with glue ear can become frustrated, feel left out and become quiet and withdrawn.
• You may notice that your child is not doing so well at school as expected.
• Your child’s speech and language may appear to be behind other children of similar age.

These symptoms are less common as glue ear normally gets better in 3 months without any treatment.  However, if you are particularly concerned about your child's behaviour, educational or speech/language development you can contact your child's GP or health care provider at any time.