Ear infection causing floppy ears?

Question
I have a 4 month old german shepherd puppy. His ears were floppy just like most german shepherd pups and at about the 12 week point they started to straighten out and have been straight ever since... until yesterday.  In the morning both ears had gone back to being slightly floppy like they were from the 8 week point to being straight at 12 weeks.  By the evening however they were floppier than they had ever been.  Just like a labs ears and he was shaking his head constantly.  I took him to the vet and he has an ear infection that is being treated with ear drops.  I asked the vet if his ears going floppy was due to the infection and if they would ever go staright again and she said she was unsure.  She said that it is common for Shepherd puppies to have their ears go up and down before 5 months but my concern is that it is the infection causing this and that it may cause permanent damage to his ears and they will never go back to standing up.  I guess my questions are can ear infections cause the ears to go floppy and if so, can this cause the ears to stay floppy permanently or will they stand back up once the infection is gone?  Also, can they still be taped/glued once the infection has cleared up with any succes if it is in fact the reason why they flopped over?  Thanks

Answer
My usual sources I rely on for reliable information have little to say about this.  Unlike some others, I won't suggest I know more than I do.  Most Shepherds I know have their ears up early and they stay up.  I can't see a promptly treated ear infection causing lasting harm.  With all my Lab experience, trust me, it doesn't hurt their hearing although my 14 year old did eventually lose her hearing.  I think some of their floppy ear problem may be a be a behavior thing.  If his ears are bothering him, he may not bother holding them up.  Once the antibiotics do their job, he may hold them up.  I don't know that the taping and gluing does any good.  I can't imagine that it would hurt though.  I found it encouraging that somebody recently commented on one of my answers that theirs didn't have his ears up at 10 months, but did by a year without taping and gluing.  I will also say that I hardly remember and adult with floppy ears.  Surely not everybody does the gluing and taping.