A Middle Ear infection can last for months and retard language development in very young children.
Long after the nose cold has abated the middle ear infection will continue, fueled by the germs multiplying and dropping down from the surrounding porous bone. It can last for a week or for months.
For young children the impact on language and speech development can be considerable.
Swift diagnosis by an audiologist and/or an otolaryngologist and medical treatment is warranted.
Children with a history of colds and ear infections should have their hearing monitored frequently to insure that the infection has not returned and lodged in the middle ear.
As with most conductive losses, medical remediation will return the hearing to where it was before the infection.
Incidentally, middle ear infection accounts for the highest incidence of socially significant hearing loss in the United States today.