Why are babies born with problem ears?
There are a number of types of problem ear at birth, but most are due to an abnormality of development. The ear develops from a collection of tiny hillocks on the side of the head. Between the 38th and 50th days of development, the human embryo grows at a fantastic rate, its length alone increasing tenfold from 13 to 135 mm. During this period the tiny hillocks fuse together to form a primitive ear, and most deformities of the ear, and especially those in which tissue is lacking, happen around this time when the process fails in some way. From the 50th day, the primitive ear slowly increases in size, but changes little in shape, to form the definitive ear at about 7 months of life.
