• An infection of the middle ear.
  Harvard Dictionary of Health Terms
  Harvard Medical Publishing, 2011
• Inflammation of the anatomical structures of the middle ear, which is most often caused by an infectious process. Symptoms include erythema and edema of the tympanic membrane, pain, and possibly fever.
  NCI
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• Inflammation of the MIDDLE EAR including the AUDITORY OSSICLES and the EUSTACHIAN TUBE.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
• Inflammation of the middle ear.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006
• Inflammation or infection of the middle ear.
  Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO)
  The Human Phenotype Ontology Project, 2025
• A disorder characterized by an infectious process involving the middle ear.
  Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events
  U.S. National Institutes of Health, 2021
• Otitis media (OM) is the second most common disease of childhood, after upper respiratory infection (URI). OM is also the most common cause for childhood visits to a physician's office.
  Medscape
  WebMD, 2025
• Acute otitis media (AOM) is an infection involving the middle ear space and is a common complication of viral respiratory illnesses.
  Epocrates
  Athenahealth, Inc., 2019
• Otitis media, inflammation of the lining of the middle ear and one of the most common infections in childhood. In its acute form, it commonly develops in association with an infection of the upper respiratory tract that extends from the nasopharynx to the middle ear through the eustachian tube....
  Encyclopedia Britannica
  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025