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December 25th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) — Ludwig van Beethoven was
arguably one of the most influential classical music composers of all
time, yet he was deaf by the end of his career.
Now, new research in the Dec. 20 issue of BMJ suggests that the
progression of his deafness may have shaped his musical style.
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
analyzed three styles of Beethoven‘s compositions. In a letter to his
doctor in 1801, Beethoven first mentioned his hearing loss. He began to
communicate through writing in notebooks in 1818, and researchers believe
he was deaf by 1825.
As Beethoven developed high-frequency hearing loss, the famed composer
began to favor middle- and low-frequency notes that he could hear better
during performances. This taps into the “auditory feedback loop,” the
ability to hear your own words or, in this case, music, the researchers
explained.
After a time, Beethoven no longer composed music that he could hear.
Instead, the researchers speculated, he returned to his inner musical
world and composed music that was more reflective of his earlier
compositions.
“What we did was to chart the use of high notes in small subsets of his
compositions [excerpts of string quartets], speculating that if one is
unable to use high notes it may be more prone not to use them if relying
on auditory feedback,” explained study author Edoardo Saccenti, a
postdoctoral research fellow with the Biosystems Data Analysis Group at
the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences at the University of
Amsterdam.
While interesting, the article is highly speculative, noted Dr. Thomas
Balkany, director of the University of Miami Ear Institute. “There is no
formal hearing testing presented to determine the degree or frequencies of
hearing loss,” he said. What’s more, the autopsy findings do not shed
light on the issue.
That said, “the most interesting issue is the composition of some of
our most wonderful music in the absence of hearing,” Balkany said.
Dr. Guy Petruzzelli, vice chair of otolaryngology at Rush University
Medical Center in Chicago, said that Beethoven likely had a form of
progressive congenital hearing loss. “This is a really fascinating
article,” he said. “Originally, Beethoven’s hearing was OK and then he
began to experience high-frequency hearing loss so he began to use lower
tones more and more often that he could hear.”
The message is clear, Petruzzelli noted. “We shouldn’t be limited in
terms of what we aspire to be or do based on our physical limitations,” he
said.
More information
For more information on how humans hear, visit the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
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