Lew Hodgett > wrote:

>1) Too many candles on the cake.
>2) Abuse of your hearing in bygone days by listening to loud music,
>rock concerts, etc.
>3) A combination of 1 & 2 above.

A few more risk factors:

4) Swimming
5) History of using antibiotic ear drops (in the neomycin family)
6) In some cases, even using topical antibiotics in enough of a dose.
(Note neomycin/polymyxin ointment is OTC in the U.S. but the U.K.
has made it prescription-only for this reason.)

Steve