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An ear disorder is any condition that changes or harms the shape or structure of your ear. This can include abnormal ear shapes you're born with, injuries that change your ear's shape, and a growth on or in the ear.

Your ear has three main parts, and each one plays a different role in helping you hear:

• Outer ear. The part you see and the ear canal. It catches sound and sends them to your eardrum.
• Middle ear. When sound reaches your eardrum, it vibrates. These vibrations move through three small bones, called ossicles, that carry them further into your ear.
• Inner ear. Changes vibrations into nerve signals your brain understands as sound. It also helps you keep your balance.

Many conditions may affect your hearing or balance:

• Ear infections, the most common illness in infants and young children
• Tinnitus, a ringing or roaring in your ears
• Meniere's disease, which may be caused by fluid problems in your inner ear
• Ear barotrauma, an ear injury from sudden air or water pressure changes

Some of these conditions can also lead to hearing disorders and deafness.

Ear disorders may be caused by:

• Abnormal ear shapes you're born with, like microtia and anotia, which usually have no known cause. Sometimes they're linked to genes or certain medicines taken during pregnancy.
• Injury from hits, cuts, or bites can damage the ear.
• Growths that form after an injury, piercing, repeated cold water exposure, or years in the sun.
• Infections, like perichondritis, which often start from a cut or piercing.
• Bone growth in the middle ear, called otosclerosis, which can run in families.

Sometimes the only sign of an ear disorder is how your ear looks. Other symptoms may include:

• Changes in the size or shape of your ear
• Swelling, redness, or growths
• Pain or tenderness
• Scarring or changes in skin color
• Cuts or holes in the ear or eardrum
• Slow hearing loss, in some cases

To find out if you have an ear disorder, your health care provider may:

• Do a physical exam
• Look inside your ear with a lighted tool called an otoscope
• Order [imaging tests] to see bones or tissue more clearly
• Test your hearing
• Order a biopsy, to check if a growth is cancer

Sometimes, your provider may refer you to a doctor who specializes in care of the ear, nose, and throat.

Treatment for an ear disorder depends on the cause. Some may be treated with medicine. Others may need surgery to change the shape of the ear or remove a growth. If the disorder affects your hearing, you may need a hearing aid.

Most ear disorders that you are born with can't be prevented. But you can help to prevent some ear disorders by:

• Wearing head protection during sports
• Treating cuts and injuries
• Caring for new piercings
• Protecting your ears from cold water and the sun

Head and neck cancer is the name for cancers that develop in the mouth, nose and sinuses, salivary glands, and throat and voice box (larynx). Most head and neck cancers are squamous cell cancers. They begin in the moist tissues that line the head and neck. The cancer cells may spread into deeper tissue as the cancer grows.

There are other cancers that develop in the head and neck, such as brain cancer, eye cancer, and esophageal cancer. But they are usually not considered to be head and neck cancers, because those types of cancer and their treatments are different.

Anyone can get head and neck cancer, but you are more likely to develop it if you:

• Use tobacco or drink lots of alcohol. Your risk of developing head and neck cancer is even higher if you do both.
• Are male.
• Are over age 50.
• Have a history of head or neck cancer.
• Have HPV (for cancers in the tonsils and base of the tongue).
• Are exposed to wood dusts or certain other toxic substances at work (for upper throat, nose, and sinus cancers).
• Have had radiation exposure to the head and neck (for salivary gland cancer).
• Have Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection (for upper throat and salivary gland cancers).
• Are Asian (for upper throat cancer).

The symptoms of head and neck cancer may include:

• A lump in the neck
• A sore in the mouth or the throat that does not heal and may be painful
• A sore throat that does not go away
• Trouble swallowing
• A change or hoarseness in the voice

Other possible symptoms can depend on the specific type of head and neck cancer.

Which exams and tests used to diagnose head and neck cancer can depend on the specific type of cancer. Possible exams and tests may include:

• A physical exam of the area that might have cancer.
• Blood and/or urine tests.
• An endoscopy.
• A biopsy or other procedure to collect cells from the area that might have cancer. The cells are viewed under a microscope to find out if they are abnormal.
• Imaging tests.

The treatment for head and neck cancer will depend on the specific type of cancer, the stage (how advanced the cancer is), your overall health, and other factors. The treatment options might include:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Cancer immunotherapy
• Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that mainly attack specific cancer cells and cause less harm to normal cells

In some cases, you may need a combination of treatments. Sometimes surgery can affect how well you can chew, swallow, or talk. Rehabilitation, such as physical therapy, dietary counseling, and speech therapy, may help.

There are steps you can take to help prevent head and neck cancer:

• Not smoking
• Limiting alcohol use or not drinking at all
• Getting regular dental exams
• Talking to your provider about HPV vaccination

NIH: National Cancer Institute