Viral infection caused Beethoven’s deafness

A viral infection and not syphilis or lead poisoning rendered Ludwig van Beethoven deaf, according to new research in a BBC documentary.

The German composer was forced to use an ear trumpet and bite a metal rod on his piano to experience music, and contemplated suicide when he began to lose his hearing.

Various theories have suggested his deafness stemmed from a congenital condition or the ravages of syphilis.

But working on the BBC season marking 250 years since his death, audiologist Sonja Jones has offered a new diagnosis based on the Bonn-born genius’s autopsy and private letters.

She believes he suddenly developed hearing loss through a viral or bacterial infection in his late 20s, and treatments probably made it worse.

Jones has suggested the rare Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, which can be felt “within seconds”, was the cause of Beethoven’s disability which developed into total deafness before his death in 1827, aged 56.

While his alcoholism produced other ailments, Jones’s research presented in Being

Beethoven suggests he was the victim of an infection.

“All of a sudden you can sense it,” she said.

“There might be a pop in your ears, or a sudden drop in your hearing, usually in one ear rather than in both.

“There’s a very real feeling of numbness and something in your ear.”

Today the composer would have been rushed to hospital and treated with steroids, but he was given oil to pour in his ear, which likely created ear wax that made his hearing even worse, Jones said.