The effect of prior otitis media with effusion (OME) or current middle ear effusion (MEE) on phonetic perception was examined by testing infants' discrimination of "boo" and "goo" syllables in 2 test sessions. Middle ear function was assessed following each perception test using tympanometry. Perceptual performance was compared across 3 infant groups: (a) "history-negative", infants with normal middle ear function who had never received medical treatment for OME; (b) "history-positive", infants with normal middle ear function who received medical treatment for prior episodes of OME; and (c) "MEE", infants presenting tympanograms indicating middle ear effusion on the day of testing. History-negative infants performed significantly better than MEE infants in both test sessions. History-negative infants also performed significantly better than history-positive infants in the 2nd test session. Findings suggest that OME has a negative impact on infant phonetic discrimination that may persist even after middle ear function has returned to normal. (Contains 4 footnotes, 2 tables, and 1 figure.)