The Air Force Safety Center is a Field Operating Agency with headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
The Finnish researchers are unsure why the use of a pacifier might lead to an ear infection, but theorized it may have something to do with the change in pressure equilibrium inside the ear caused by the sucking.
Sucking on pacifiers, toys, thumbs and similar objects can cause the same problems inside the ear as bottle feeding. The common factor in all of these activities is that negative pressure is generated in the mouth and the vacuum is then transferred to the middle ear.