I have had 3 perforations of my left eardrum - one on board a Monarch b720B inbound from Milan to Luton in 1981, which was excruciating (but what an aircraft!), a second flying as cabin crew in 1992 which dulled my hearing but wasn't as sore, and a third in 2000, following a heavy summer cold, whilst working as a dispatcher. My eardrum ended up retracted, and did not heal properly, attracting infection after infection, each one leaving me slightly deafer. I eventually had a tympanoplasty, a skin graft to 'grow' a new eardrum, and a year later became cabin crew again. 8 years later, no problems at all, and my hearing actually improved!
