"Chronic Ear Infections Contributed to Neanderthal Extinction"
A team of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai believe that Neanderthals may have been doomed to extinction because they had persistent, life-long ear infections due to the structure of their Eustachian tubes. According to the authors, “Middle ear infections are nearly ubiquitous among infants because the flat angle of an infant’s Eustachian tubes is prone to retain the otitis media bacteria that cause these infections — the same flat angle we found in Neanderthals.” But unlike modern humans, the structure of the Eustachian tubes in Neanderthals didn’t change with age — which means these ear infections and their complications, including respiratory infections, hearing loss, pneumonia, and worse, would not only become chronic, but a lifelong threat to overall health and survival.
— Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai