3 ms·

Deaf Beethoven

• ggm 4y ago
  An autopsy carried out after he died found he had a distended inner ear, which developed lesions over time. One ear. So, probably part of the story, but total loss would suggest he needed both, or some other underlying problem which autopsy of the time could not recognize. Unless I over-read that it was one, it could be the neutral statement to both auditory processes. By the time he went catastrophically deaf, he probably had a rich interior model of the soundscape he was seeking but the comment about the pitch dropping over the life of his compositions suggests the vibration thing (pencil in teeth, or on jaw or other headbones) was dominating how he explored the music he was writing.