2024/01/16 by Hoppe, Ulrich, Rosanowski, Frank
#Ertaubung #Lues #Medicine and health #Musik #Schwerhörigkeit #Syphilis #Tinnitus #deafness #hearing loss #lues #music #syphilis #tinnitus
paper · doi:10.3205/zaud000037
The Czech composer Bedrich Smetana (1824–1884) suffered sudden hearing loss with severe tinnitus at the age of fifty. Within a few months, his hearing deteriorated so much that soon he was deaf. He continued his work and composed many of today’s best-known works without ever having heard them himself. In the String Quartet No. 1 he lets his tinnitus sound in the form of a very high “e” through the violin. The cause of Smetana’s deafness has been subject of conjecture and speculation for many years. Today, the most likely cause of his deafness is a syphilis infection. Syphilis and its relationship to hearing loss are presented based on the current literature and placed in the context of the literature about Smetana's deafness.