Lead and the deafness of Ludwig van Beethoven

@article{Stevens2013LeadAT,  title={Lead and the deafness of Ludwig van Beethoven},  author={Michael H Stevens and T. Jacobsen and Alicia Kay Crofts},  journal={The Laryngoscope},  year={2013},  volume={123},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:34595828}}
To reexamine the cause of Beethoven's hearing loss because of significant recent articles.

34 Citations

The deafness of Ludwig van Beethoven

The current literature on the theories surrounding Beethoven's deafness and medical conditions is reviewed based on a PubMed® search spanning from 1958 to 2023 and a critical analysis of these theories is provided.

New Insights into Beethoven’s Deafness

    Michael Stevens
    Medicine
    Pharynx – the Incredible Rendezvous Sites of Gas…
  • 2022
The absence of mercury in Beethoven’s hair and bone samples leads us to conclude that his deafness was not due to syphilis, because in that era, syphilis was treated with mercury.

GLUVOĆA LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVENA

    History, Medicine
The current literature on the theories surrounding Beethoven's deafness and medical conditions is reviewed based on a PubMed® search spanning from 1958 to 2023 and a critical analysis of these theories is provided.

A Modern Case Sheds Light on a Classical Enigma: Beethoven's Deafness

The health issues of the modern patient were found to be due to chronic lead intoxication, which was released during daily cooking using a ceramic‐coated frying pan with worn surface that poisoned her breakfast most probably for years.

In Reference to Beethoven's Deafness

Brottosuggests that lead poisoning causes a variety of symptoms that, depending on the time of exposure and healthcare support, are extremely variable from person to person, and Reubens indicates there is another explanation for Beethoven’s lack of wrist drop.

In Response to Beethoven's Deafness

It is the belief that, among the multiple hypotheses proposed over the centuries, chronic lead poisoning seems to be the most founded, probable, and in the end realistic.

For each hypothesis on the aetiology of Beethoven’s hearing disorder, there remain pro’s and con’s

The hypothesis of chronic lead intoxication is a valuable explanation for Beethoven’s progressive hearing impairment according to which the cause of his hearing loss would be neural rather than cochlear in origin.

Does lead take the lead as the best explanation for Beethoven deafness?

The authors state that few data are available about the prevalence and extent of hearing loss induced by chronic lead exposure, concluding that it is difficult to associate Beethoven’s deafness with a chronic lead intoxication, and the presence of high lead values deep in the bones of beethoven's body should be considered as particularly relevant to sustain this hypothesis.

In Response to In Reference to A modern Case Sheds Light on a Classical Enigma: Beethoven's Deafness

It is appropriate to call to attention the possibility that Beethoven’s various symptoms were cochlear migraine-related, and it is concur that lead poisoning remains a highly probable cause.

42 References

The deafness of Beethoven: an audiologic and medical overview.

The author concludes with the majority of otologists that cochlear otosclerosis is the most likely diagnosis for the hearing loss of Ludwig von Beethoven.

Beethoven's Deafness

The natural history of Beethoven's deafness, together with a judicious examination of pertinent necropsy findings, provides adequate evidence for a chronic, progressive perceptive deafness. Marked…

Diagnosing Genius. The Life and Death of Beethoven

![Figure][1] It is lucky for us that Ludwig van Beethoven was more well-known than most during his lifetime as much more information about his life (and death) survives as a consequence. Francois…

Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death

Preface Beethoven's Physicians and Their Treatments The Accounts of Beethoven's Deafness Beethoven's Appearance Final Illness, Death, and Burial The Autopsy The Exhumations The Question of Venereal…

The Deafness of Ludwig Van Beethoven: an Immunopathy

The conclusion is that Beethoven's sensorineural hearing loss was an immunopathy associated with IBD, which provides a single entity that explains most of the composer's symptoms and was finally the cause of his death.

The Causes of Beethoven's Death and His Locks of Hair: A Forensic-Toxicological Investigation

The very high lead levels detected in Beethoven's hair are strictly indicative only of the fact that beethoven was massively lead toxic in the last months of his life, of course, yet given his thirty years of mounting illnesses, his testy behavior and chronic clumsiness, it now appears probable that he had consumed large amounts of lead long before.

Beethoven's deafness.

To the Editor.— After reading the thorough article on Beethoven's deafness which covered it from every angle and point of view and eliminated most of the diseases and afflictions which might have…

MIRACULOUS RECOVERY? HANDEL’S ILLNESSES, THE NARRATIVE TRADITION OF HEROIC STRENGTH AND THE ORATORIO TURN

The image of the heroic Handel, typified by claims of immense physical and mental toughness, and rapid – even miraculous – recovery, may satisfy the credulous, but it needs considerable modification…

The Letters of Beethoven

This edition, which includes virtually all the letters of Beethoven and other relevant documents, covers a period of forty years, from 1787 to 1827. It is thus an indispensable source book for a…

Autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss.

This review focuses on the recent progress in understanding of the aetio-pathogenesis of autoimmune hearing loss along with a description of the various clinical conditions in which they occur.

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