Of Ear Trumpets and a Resonance Plate: Early Hearing Aids and Beethoven's Hearing Perception

Abstract

Although Beethoven's hearing loss is arguably the most celebrated case of deafness in history, virtually no attention has been given to the composer's use of technology for hearing improvement.2 Moreover, his letters and related contemporary documents reveal descriptions of hearing perception that have never been seriously analyzed. This article examines Beethoven's hearing loss to determine how long he could hear speech and music and his use of early hearing adjuncts. The first section examines Beethoven's hearing until he began to use ear trumpets around 1812. The second section investigates his perception of speech using ear trumpets. Finally, the third section examines his perception of music using both ear trumpets and other hearing aids. Symptoms of a hearing impairment apparently began sometime between 1796 and 1798. Beethoven's despair is revealed in letters to Karl Amenda and Franz Gerhard Wegeler in 1801 and culminated in the Heiligenstadt Testament of 1802. Despite the distress expressed in these documents, his hearing evidently remained fairly intact for a number of years. Carl Czerny stated that Beethoven could hear speech and music normally until 1812. Other contemporaries noted that Beethoven's hearing would remain normal for many months early in the course of his affliction. Several remarks in Beethoven's early letters indicate that he heard conversations and music. The composer conducted the Third Symphony in 1804 and appeared as soloist in the Fourth Piano Concerto in 1807 and 1808. His last public performance 19th-Century Music XVII/3 (Spring 1994). O by The Regents of the University of California.