I lost the total hearing in my right ear for the past 2 months. The Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor said I have a fluid build up behind my ear and may need to have a tube inserted. Fluid behind the ear sounded pretty serious too me. Half way through taking my medication (sort of a bronchial medication to dry things up), my wife fed me a bowl of very hot and spicy Romain noodles. The soup was so spicy hot, that I broke out into a sweat. Sweat was coming out of the top of my head, and my nose started running like crazy. I told my wife, "your going to think I'm crazy, but I can taste this soup in my ear. The tube behind your ear allows fluid (snot) to drain into your throat. Not only was my nose running, but the soup caused the tube behind my ear to start draining. I ate a few more bowls of soup the following days, and it helped to open up my ear. A few days later I could hear normally again. I told the doctor about the soup, and he said, "You better not lose the recipe for that soup..!" It was basically just an off brand of very hot and spicy Romain Noodles. I'm sure any hot food that is spicy enough to make you sweat, would work. Anyway, I found that interesting.