Every year, about 280,000 children under age three have tube surgery designed to reduce the number of ear infections or drain middle ear fluid that might muffle sounds and hinder language development, Reuters
A study by researchers at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh found nearly 400 children's performance on language and speech tests at age three or four were not effected by implanted tubes.
Even by the age of six, the children with the tubes implanted immediately scored no higher on intelligence, word, speech, behavior or emotion tests than children who got the tubes later, or not at all.
Thirty types of tests were conducted on the children in 2001.
The findings are published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.
