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What is the cause of Beethoven's deafness

Doven had a rough life and no family. At the age of 26, his creation and energy were at the peak. He began to be deaf. At first, he couldn't hear the treble. In his later years, he was totally deaf. He could only talk with people through the talk book. Here are the reasons for Beethoven's deafness carefully arranged for you by Xiaobian. Let's have a look.

What is the cause of Beethoven's deafness

Beethoven's deafness did not come by accident, but from a disease called syphilis, and this terrible disease haunted him all his life and made him miserable.

In the era of Beethoven's life, many people think Beethoven had syphilis. In 1912, Theodor von frimmel, a scholar and doctor specializing in Beethoven, wrote: 'Beethoven's deafness is only a symptom, and the disease itself has another name. 'Sayer also said that many people know about Beethoven's disease, and the name of the disease is shameful. Adam Politzer, an otologist, also mentioned two prescriptions for Beethoven's Mercury cream for syphilis. However, everyone chose to avoid the problem or keep silent. This may be due to Beethoven's high social status at that time, in order to show respect for him and dare not make mistakes. "His immortal works are sacred and inviolable, and no one dares to criticize them contemptuously today," neumer wrote. Beethoven's music makes us feel like entering the temple, full of admiration. '

It was not until decades before the invention of penicillin in the 20th century that more medical workers devoted themselves to the study of syphilis and the mystery of Beethoven's deafness was solved.

According to Andreas Bertolini, a good friend and doctor of Beethoven, Beethoven in his youth was quite healthy in addition to sometimes gastrointestinal pain. At that time, he was already learning from Haydn. At the same time, his excellent piano improvisation also enjoyed a great reputation among the nobility in Vienna, including the Great Duke Rudolph, the emperor's half brother, who was taught by Beethoven. But in his first year in Vienna, a fever changed his life. Aloi weissenbach, who is also a doctor of Beethoven, mentioned another high fever in 1797: 'he once had severe typhus fever, and since then, his nervous system has been injured, which may even damage his hearing, which is a real disaster for him. '

As early as 1907, sir Osler, one of the most influential doctors and an excellent syphilis research expert in the early 20th century, questioned the nature of this "accidental typhoid fever". He believed that Beethoven was actually infected by syphilis. In syphilis textbooks, we can find that deafness is usually a symptom that occurs after the first year of fever. This is the eighth cause of brain damage. When tinnitus occurs, you always hear ringing, buzzing or hissing; first you can't hear high notes, then all the ranges, including the voice of speaking. Loss of hearing is gradual, sometimes reduced, often under pressure. Starting from the signs of syphilis causing deafness, we find the following clues from Beethoven's biography. Beethoven started his ear disease at the age of 26-27. At the music party held at Beethoven's first Bonn court, noemyr, an otologist, wrote: 'the most likely cause of Beethoven's deafness is the inner ear or lost auditory nerve disorder. "At the beginning, I hardly noticed that with the pathological changes of inner ear or auditory nerve structure, I lost my hearing unconsciously. 'said Edward Larkin:' Beethoven's deafness is gradual, and for a while it still stops. 'Beethoven himself said:' at first, I couldn't hear the treble. "He put cotton in his ear to suppress the bass, causing great pain. On July 1, 1801, Beethoven wrote to Karl Amenda and said: 'tell you, my most valuable property, my hearing, has been seriously damaged. When you were with me, I had noticed this symptom; but I didn't say anything, it's getting worse now. We have to wait to see if we can hear & hellip; & hellip; what I said please keep it secret and don't tell anyone. "These are consistent with the deafness caused by syphilis.

This persistent and severe ear disease eventually developed into complete deafness in Beethoven's old age. In 1810, Beethoven fell to the ground in a rage. He wrote: 'when I got up, I found myself deaf. The doctor said that my nerves had been damaged. "After Beethoven's death, anatomical reports of his ears showed that the auditory nerve had atrophied, lacked a normal layer of myelin, and the left auditory nerve was thinner than the right. Sean Sellars, an otologist, said: 'the anatomy revealed changes around the brainstem, showing a local meningeal response, which may be caused by syphilis. '

In addition, syphilis in the middle of one of the biggest characteristics is the iris and eyelid inner layer of the mucous membrane repeatedly inflammation. Beethoven wrote the solemn mass in memory of Duke Rudolph, which was completed under this condition. His letter to Schindler said: 'I have to cover my eyes at night. I should take good care of my eyes. Smetana wrote to me that I should not write so many notes. "At that time, the condition of his eyes was almost certain to be inflammation around the iris, including the iris and conjunctiva (the delicate mucous membrane connecting the eyelids and covering the eyeball).

However, syphilis is a very latent disease. Once infected, it may lurk behind many other diseases, leading to many other terrible disease symptoms, so it is also known as the 'great imitator'. So, does Beethoven have any other symptoms besides deafness and eyelid inflammation? In the medical records provided by Beethoven's doctors, we found the following records: severe gastrointestinal pain, terrible headache, nail infection with one finger must be operated on, long abscess of the lower jaw must be operated on, rheumatism Severe inflammation of the lung caused by the disease, rheumatic disease and pain often recur, including a 'terrible rheumatic attack', 'arthritis of the chest caused by gout', jaundice, bleeding of the esophagus and nose, eye pain for five months, having to stay in a dark room and put on an eye mask, and heart failure. He often had irregular heart rhythm, and wrote it into music (Piano Sonata farewell), his face twitched in his old age. It's only part of the symptoms, Anton Neumayr implicitly wrote: 'Beethoven is likely to have depression in his later years. '

The piano manufacturer in London gave Beethoven a piano with a strong frame, which can stand the ardent and wild performance of Beethoven. In his later years, Beethoven became so grumpy and behaved so strangely that it was rumored that Beethoven might be insane. A German composer told Goethe that Beethoven was insane. Charlotte Brunswick wrote: 'yesterday I learned that Beethoven had gone mad. 'Larkin describes Beethoven's old age:' health has been very bad, the mood is low, the spirit is very nervous, suspicious, feel persecuted, very unstable under pressure, sometimes manic, impulsive, aggressive, demanding perfection, deaf, irritable. Beethoven once poured a pot of stew on the waiter. Menard & middot; Salomon concluded: 'signs of neurological abnormalities - sudden anger, uncontrollable emotional state, growing obsession with money, feeling persecuted, suspecting for no reason, persist until Beethoven's death. All this makes Viennese think that the greatest composer is an extremely weird lunatic. "And all these symptoms are consistent with the symptoms of syphilis paralytic dementia stage.

But how did such a musical giant get syphilis? The exact reason is unknown. One theory is that Beethoven has' congenital syphilis', which may be inherited from his father. By studying Beethoven's skull, the person who holds this view believes that his obvious nose bridge depression and square skull are the characteristic signs of congenital syphilis. About 20% - 30% of congenital syphilis patients will have unilateral hearing loss between 20-30 years old, and Beethoven happened to have left hearing loss at this age, and finally developed to both sides. Other causes of deafness are mostly bilateral.

Another view is that it comes from high-risk sexual behavior. Beethoven has never been married, but there is evidence that Beethoven used to go to brothels. Maynard Solomon interprets Beethoven's letter to his friend zmeskall, in which he refers to "morschefestungen", which literally means "stinking fortress", which actually refers to brothels and prostitutes. In several letters, he mentioned that "fortress" is related to sex, disease, danger and sadness. For example: 'enjoy your life, but don't pay too much attention to lust - managers and supervisors of all kinds of fortresses!' 'I don't need to warn you again, be careful not to get hurt in the nearby fortress. "Far from the stinking fortresses, whose attacks are more deadly than those that are well defended. "Be zealous in defending the fortress of the Empire. As you know from the title page of the symphony of heroes, they have long lost their virginity and have been attacked several times. "I sincerely thank you, dear Z, for your information about the fortress. I think you must think I don't want to stop in the soft and wet place. 'these circumstances show that Beethoven is not like some biographers say' Beethoven is a virgin '. However, Beethoven was full of contradiction and self reproach for this kind of behavior: 'only the pleasure of the body, no communication of the soul is always vulgar; after that, there is no noble feeling, only regret and regret. On the one hand, he longed for more, for normal feelings, for disgust and prevention of such acts; on the other hand, throughout his life, there was no one connected with his soul. Therefore, in the hopelessness, he had to remain attached to the 'stinking Fortress'.

Whether the cause of infection is congenital or acquired, syphilis really brought the master a lifetime of pain. Due to the backward medical conditions at that time, although syphilis caused deafness was found in 1797, it was always regarded as a simple virus infection, and it was not until 1806 that Dr. Bertolini began to treat it. At this time, the disease has been for ten years. Although he visited famous doctors everywhere, he tried many strange treatments and found syphilis hard to eradicate. In many diseases, hearing loss is the most frustrating. He kept trying various methods: Dr. gerhardvon vering treated him with some kind of bark, which was supposed to reduce his tinnitus, but it had no effect, just caused painful blisters in his arms. Dr. h. Graff suggested grinding fresh horseradish and wrapping it in a cotton cloth and inserting it into the ear. Dr. John & middot Schmidt( Dr.JohannSchmidt )It is suggested that electrotherapy should be used to treat his hearing directly. Even seven months before Beethoven's death, he spoke hopefully of a new way to treat deafness - by soaking the skin of the green kernel in lukewarm milk and dropping a few drops into the ear. The use of mercury as a therapeutic drug has also resulted in some other symptoms of mercury poisoning. Beethoven, who was haunted by a stubborn disease, was in great pain. His letters were filled with sadness because of his physical suffering